Historic Day

Three years ago, Afghanistan was firmly in the grip of an islamic fundamentalist regime, determined to bring that country back to the fourth century as a repressive caliphate. The only thing they wanted from the modern world was weaponry. They used thousands of pounds of explosives to destroy the 1700 year-old Buddha statues carved into a cliffside at Bamiyan because according to them, the statues "offended islam." But they had no problem allowing UBL to train thousands of mujahdeen to kill infidels in cowardly attacks on civilian populations, because according to them, that wasn't offensive to islam.
Tomorrow, Afghanistan will hold the first direct elections in their history. The remnants of the Taliban will try to kill as many people voting as possible because they find the voting more offensive to islam than the indiscriminate cold-blooded killing of devout muslim voters.
Hopefully they will be unsuccessful in all their attacks, and hopefully they will suffer heavy casualties trying to get to the polling places.
And hopefully the people of Afghanistan will get to vote in an election that, no matter how flawed or dangerous it may be, has meaning to them in a way that gives them hope for the future of their country.
If the elections are considered successful by the Afghanis themselves, almost all hope will be lost by the Iraqi insurgency. The attacks will continue, the bloodshed will continue, the insurgency will continue, the battles will continue, but the war for islamic fundamentalism in the heart of Mesopotamia will be lost.
Tomorrow will be historic, Insh'allah the people of Afghanistan are allowed to vote.
Insh'allan the people of Iraq are emboldened by the successes in Afghanistan.
Insh'allah the people of Iran turn against the mullahs who are every day brining their country closer to the brink of confrontation with the west, a confrontation they can ill afford.
Historic.
For those of you who supported us in OEF and OIF, I say thanks.
May we all be blessed for our efforts in this undertaking.
To the people of Afghanistan and all the middle east; I wish you courage, hope, peace. Your courage in voting tomorrow should humble us all.