October 09, 2004
The New Republic of Afghanistan
Unless you've been hiding at the center of the earth, or Kerry's team, you should know by now that Afghanistan had its first elections...ever. (The center of the earth analogy was used because even those in Afghanistan's caves know about this.) October 9th, 2004 will be the date that Afghanistan has been legitimized as a sovereign nation with direct leadership of someone of their own choosing. There were no bombings, no beheadings, nothing. The biggest uproar today was about some ink being used wrong. Have you seen the polling lines? Take a look at Commissar's pic. I haven't seen lines like that since...well...never! I suspect that the voter turnout will dwarf anything this nation has ever had in its 200+ year history.
Bush has made comment about the event:
"Freedom is powerful. Think about a society in which young girls couldn't go to school, and their mothers were whipped in the public square, and today they're holding a presidential election."
Kerry has made...well...no mention of it. (If anyone has a Kerry comment about the elections please let me know. I really hate being partisan....yeah, that was a lie, I love slamming Kerry.)
In case anyone forgot, this is what freedom looks like:
Courtesy of the BBC:
Afghan refugee Moqadasa Sidiqi, 19, creates history, being the first person to vote in Afghanistan's first presidential election. She voted in Pakistan. View Slideshow.
These ballots look better than our ballots. Can I go vote in Afghanistan?
Here's another Slideshow. Yes, those are Afghan women and children at these rallies.
The BBC went nuts with these elections. Here's the link.
I'm glad to see someone on the other side of the pond realizes the importance of this.
UPDATE: Yahoo News has a 341 picture slideshow here. Just click on the picture on the right to start it. (My local paper is likening the indellible ink fiasco to Florida's hanging chad fiasco.)
Please, don't take my word for what's going on in Afghanistan. Listen to what The Afhan Daily newspaper says, in English. The Afghan Daily is a subsidiary of the World News.
I almost forgot one thing: John Howard has won re-election in Australia. I guess that means Kerry was wrong about support in Australia as well. Their people have spoken. It is time we did the same.
Note: there is a new voting system this year. Those registered with the incumbent party need to vote on November 2nd. Those registered with other parties or no affiliation need to vote on November 3rd. (Yes, this is an old joke but I still think it's funny.)
Allah bless Afghanistan!