So former Liberian President Charles Taylor has become the first head of state since World War II to be convicted by an international court of war crimes. What were his numbers? Between 50,000 and 250,000 killed, raped, tortured?

Even the murder of one person is serious business. But when it comes to international criminals, Taylor doesn't even make the top 10. Depending upon which historian you listen to, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong were responsible for either killing or starving about 40 million of their own people (to say nothing of the millions they killed who weren't Russian or Chinese).

As bad as Hitler was, Stalin and Mao outkilled him by a long shot. But Hitler got his. He supposedly committed suicide while he was in his late 50s. Mao and Stalin died of old age (maybe helped along by someone with a grudge), in their 70s and 80s. So I had to shake my head when I read the article on Taylor in Friday's paper:

"The verdict sent a message to tyrants: 'You could be next.'" Only if you're a small tyrant. And even that's not totally true. Look at North Korea.

For decades the communist government and the halfwit family that's been running the show has been killing, raping, torturing and starving its people. When will an international court bring North Korean leaders to justice?


TOM R. KOVACH, NEVIS, MINN.