Winning hearts and minds...

Juan Cole:

Whatever goddam military genius came up with the bright idea of flushing the Koran down the toilet at Guantanamo should be court-martialed, and Bush had better get out there apologizing before this thing spirals further out of control.

Maybe when Karen Hughes starts her job (she's deferred starting her new, much ballyhooed job as undersecretary for public diplomacy until the fall when her son goes off to college... lord knows that there's no urgency) she can stage some "town hall" events throughout the middle east, where "hand picked" Muslims can be seen expressing their love for Dubya and the U.S., and Dubya himself can explain to them that torture, Koran flushing, and unprovoked military invasions of sovereign nations are our way of expressing love for those of Muslim faith. Yeah, that'll do the trick. She'll have those poll numbers raising in no time at all.