If the world had stepped in then

We could have avoided a world of troubles. Blowing up those Buddhas when the whole world begged them not to showed just how crazy the Taliban were and we did nothing to stop them. Once they got away with destroying them, they felt they were invincible and that their faith would prevail.

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Ex-Governor Elected to Afghan Parliament: "Elsewhere, U.S.-led coalition forces killed four police officers after mistaking them for militants during an operation in the southern province of Kandahar, provincial Gov. Asadullah Khalid said. The coalition said it could not confirm the shootings and was investigating.

Mawlawi Mohammed Islam Mohammadi, who was the Taliban's governor of Bamiyan province when the fifth-century Buddha statues were blown up with dynamite and artillery in March 2001, was chosen to represent the neighboring province of Samangan, according to results posted by the U.N.-Afghan election organizers. Election law did not bar former Taliban officials from participating in the Sept. 18 polls.

International outcry followed the destruction of the giant Buddhas, which were chiseled into a cliff and famed for their size and location along the ancient Silk Road linking Europe and Central Asia. Archaeologists in Bamiyan have been painstakingly collecting the stone remains of the two statues - the largest of which was 174 feet high - and are considering rebuilding them."

Nice to know this guy still has a job. Doesn't matter what the national politics are, some people can get elected just by being there.

If only we had Chauncey's spirit running this country, instead of his intellect.