Argentina's new president, Mr. Nestor Kirchner, faces many challenges, but none is as important as ending the "culture of impunity" that has existed in his country since democracy was restored some two decades ago. That process began last month with the government's decision to permit the extradition of Argentines suspected of crimes committed during the "Dirty War" of 1976-1983. It continued when the Senate last week voted to lift the amnesty conferred in the 1980s. Mr. Kirchner knows that silence and denial will not heal the country's wounds. Argentina needs reconciliation, but it cannot obtain reconciliation if it fails to account for the horrific deeds of that time.

The Dirty War was waged by a military dictatorship against suspected leftists. As many as 30,000 people disappeared during the brutal campaign. Some who were involved have admitted to throwing prisoners from planes into the Atlantic Ocean. The babies of suspected leftists were stolen and given to military families. Hundreds of military officers have been accused of complicity in the Dirty War, but they were protected by amnesty laws passed in the 1980s -- after the military was forced to relinquish the reins of government following its defeat and humiliation in the disastrous Falklands War.

Since then, the military and some government officials have argued that Argentine democracy was too fragile to face squarely the horrors of that time. That may have once been true, but no longer. Mr. Kirchner, who was briefly detained by the military, knows this. And one of the pillars of his presidency is forcing the nation to confront and acknowledge its past.