"...conjure up the image of 40 or 50 thousand Muslim mothers smiling into the faces of healthy babies."

Fred Thompson notes some very good news on women's access to health care and infant mortality rates in Afghanistan, and points out that none of this would have been possible without the help of U.S. and Coalition soldiers.

A new study from Johns Hopkins University indicates that, since the Taliban was ousted five years ago, Afghan infant-mortality rates have improved dramatically. Every year, more than 40,000 babies live that would have died under Islamofascist tyranny — and the statistics are still improving. The main reason, according to the study, is improved women’s access to medical care.

Some people, including World Bank health specialists, say infant-mortality rates have improved far more than the Johns Hopkins study shows — because the data used is several years old. We know, for example, that the number of Afghan children who are getting vaccinations has doubled and redoubled in just the last few years. Similarly, the number of pregnant women receiving pre-natal care went up six-fold between 2003 and 2006.

Hat tip to Instapundit.

Australians send 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan

After insisting with the mostly European ISAF that their troops would be "...under Australian national command and interpret their rules of engagement in an Australian way."

Via The Belmont Club who comments:

The Australians know what the Europeans should soon rediscover: the danger comes from within one's self; that there are none so lost as those who have misled themselves.