Middle East Election Fraud

First we had Iran, and now Afghanistan. I cannot understand, however, why their was such wide condemnation of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian government in the news media, but there is no such indignation over allegations of vote rigging in Afghanistan.

So what is the difference in these two cases? Iran has been designated a "rogue regime" by our state and media overlords. Afghanistan was a "rogue regime" until it was duly conquered liberated by the United States government. And as we all know, being the U.S. government means never having to admit you're wrong. They cannot admit that trying to impose democracy at gunpoint was bound to have problems, and they cannot admit that there are striking parallels between the elections in Iran and Afghanistan.

The U.S. will take a wait-and-see approach to the election. As Special Envoy to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke said: "The United States and the international community will respect the process set up by Afghanistan itself." Oh, okay. As long as that system was made available to the Afghan people without the outside help of the United States or any other foreign government, I guess it is all right.

It seems to me there are two ways of looking at all of this. First, the region is generally unstable, and there is no reason we should be wasting our money trying to promote fair elections there; or second, foreign involvement in the region has contributed to the instability and our continued presence will only ensure more turmoil and questioned elections.