Jim Hightower

Let us all praise his Excellency, Hamid Karzai, for his magnificent beneficence!

Karzai – the head of Afghanistan's inept, grossly corrupt, and widely despised government – has finally been forced to admit the obvious: he stole the August 20th presidential election. He and his henchmen were not even slightly subtle about fixing the vote to install him for a second term, including bribing numerous warlords to deliver their followers' votes to Karzai, as well as creating fictional polling places that magically voted unanimously for him.

Then, the country's "Independent Election Commission" – made up entirely of Karzai appointees – dutifully stepped up to certify that their patron had won 55 percent of the vote, thus negating the need for a runoff. Beyond incredible, this result was politically impossible, causing such an outcry in Afghanistan and around the world that it could not stand. Finally, Karzai petulantly conceded that – gosh – maybe he was a couple of decimal points short of a legitimate victory, so he has now agreed to a runoff election.

Western powers subsequently embarrassed themselves with a ridiculous outpouring of effusive praise for this thief. Desperate to have a credible central government in Afghanistan to support our military goals there, Washington is backing Karzai. President Obama himself hailed Karzai for his "constructive actions... for Afghanistan's new democracy" – as though the guy is George Washington reincarnated!

It's folly to think that anything credible will come from November's rushed-up runoff vote to keep Karzai in power. He'll win, but he's a loser, and Washington should not be attaching America's good name to him – much less using his "election" as a rational for committing more American lives and money to the misguided war there.