The Aussies Rock, Afghani's Revel

Australia is the best country I've ever visited, I've never visited Afghanistan (and probably never will) but doubt it would top Oz. They both held elections this in the last week that had major implications in the ongoing terror war. First John Howard's landslide win:

THANK HEAVEN THAT the U.N. played no role in the Australian election last week. Prime Minister John Howard, who braved enormous political opposition to do it, joined Mr. Bush's Coalition of the Willing, and sent Aussie troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. His survival was long in doubt but the Aussies reelected him with a substantial margin of victory. Now, maybe President Bush can mention his name again with prominence in the final debate against Vichy John Kerry. Aussie liberals are shocked by their loss. Maybe they should think about it more. Their message didn't fail with the voters because it wasn't clear enough, or because they didn't articulate it well or loud enough. It failed because Aussies are practical people. They don't want terrorism at home, so they're willing to fight it at its source. So must we.Two out of the four elections that should affect the war on terrorists and the nations that support them have passed, and but for the U.N. screw-up, both would stand as a powerful message to the enemy. The effect of the January Iraqi election will depend on what happens here in November. If Mr. Bush wins, terrorism will remain on the run. If Kerry prevails, we will suffer an enormous setback.

And Howard may have enough control of the government to make significant changes. Tim Blair has much more. In the same article we have a view of an election that wouldn't have been if Bush was not in power:

In the fall of 2001, Afghanistan sat under the oppression of the Taliban, UBL and the Pakistani Intelligence Service that kept it in the sorry condition it had been since the Soviets withdrew in defeat. After September 11, the reign of the Taliban was brought to an abrupt end, al Qaeda was almost destroyed, and OBL was on the lam. In just three years, Afghanistan went from a nation that had never in its history allowed its people self-determination, to one in which -- despite the strictness of Islamic law that still dominates much of its people -- millions voted. The picture on the front page of Sunday's Washington Post said it all: a woman, garbed head to toe in a burqa, only her hands visible, pushing her paper ballot into a ballot box. According to one report, pollsters weren't able to get good exit polls because the Afghanis were reveling in their ability to keep their votes secret.

Why is this good news? Democracies do not tend to attack other democracies.