Idi Amin of Uganda, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Frederick Chiluba of Zambia, Sani Abacha of Nigeria -- to name just a few -- pilfered their countries and/or brutalized their people to a flabbergasting degree.

Why so many? It's a question that's rarely asked. While the reticence might be attributed to fear of being labeled a racist, in fact it's the silence itself that...