The Bush Doctrine at Work

 
Well. What have we here?

Saudi women will be able to fully participate in an election for the first time in this ultraconservative Islamic kingdom, after the government ordered a local chamber of commerce to allow female voters and candidates.

No matter how you cut it — and you can be guaranteed this will not get anywhere near the attention Cindy Sheehan has, even though it is historic and maybe even earth-shattering — the rocks George Bush threw into the slime hole that is the Middle East continue to make their ripples.

Look at that quote. Women are not only voting, they’re being permitted to run for office. Unlike the previous municipal elections, where women were permitted to submit their votes through a male guardian, this will be a real step. A baby step, but a true beginning.

Will they have to campaign while wearing the portable telephone booths they are required to don when going out in public? Perhaps. But that’s beside the historic point: women are going to vote in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

While the troops roll on in Iraq, while women hold elective office in Afghanistan, and now, while the Saudi women turn out for the vote for the Chamber of Commerce elections in November, the turbulence in the pool continues. For a desert country these Saudi princes are learning to roll with the waves President Bush has created.

Read it and weep, Osama. Maybe even your momma will be voting someday, eh? Meanwhile, keep sending those cards and letters and videos, boy.


Hat tip: Captain's Quarters.