Afghans Thankful for America

You might recall that when Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, in a speech to a joint session of Congress, thanked America for giving Iraq the opportunity for freedom, he was derided by Democrats as a "puppet." Well, here's another brave individual: Hamid Karzai, recently inaugurated as the first democratically elected President of a free Afghanistan. The so-called "mainstream" (read LIBERAL) media barely covered this miracle of freedom, so I thought I would bring you the following from his inaugural address as reported by Stephen Hayes inPresent at the Creation:

"Whatever we have achieved in Afghanistan--the peace, the election, the reconstruction, the life that the Afghans are living today in peace, the children going to school, the businesses, the fact that Afghanistan is again a respected member of the international community--is from the help that the United States of America gave us. Without that help Afghanistan would be in the hands of terrorists--destroyed, poverty-stricken, and without its children going to school or getting an education. We are very, very grateful, to put it in the simple words that we know, to the people of the United States of America for bringing us this day.
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Karzai told the story of an elderly woman from the Farah province who came to a polling station with two voter's cards:

"She went up to an election worker and declared that she wanted to vote twice, once for herself, and again for her daughter who, she said, was about to deliver her child and unable to come to the polling station to vote. "We are sorry, but no one can vote for another person, this is the rule," the elderly lady was told. So she voted--for herself--and left the station. Later in the day, the election worker was shocked to see the elderly woman back, this time accompanying her young daughter to the polling station. Her daughter carried her newborn baby, as well as her voting card which she used to cast her vote."

Imagine that! Here's a woman that was considered property under the Taliban regime, not even allowed out of her home without being escorted by a male member of the family. None of this would have been possible without the vision and leadership of President Bush. Next time some lefty tells you that the sky is falling, just think of the millions who live in a better world with a brighter future because America still dares to hold high the torch of liberty.