NEW DELHI, Aug. 29 -- Nelson Mandela taught the world a huge lesson on forgiveness when, emerging from prison after twenty- seven years and being elected president of South Africa, he asked his jailor to join him on the inauguration platform.

He then asked Archbishop Desmond Tutu to head an official government panel, with a daunting name; the Truth and Reconciliation Committee.

Mandela sought to defuse the natural patterns of revenge he had seen in so many countries where one oppressed race or tribe took control from another.

For the next two-and-a-half years South Africans listened to reports of atrocities coming out of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings. The rules were simple: if a white policeman or army officer volunt...