Gratuitous insults: The staying power of bad ideas

of the people, not just the view of a few rulers, would matter much more; try to dry the swamp in which terrorism thrives; attempt to create a Sunni Arab coalition to contain a rising Iran; try to encourage the Palestinians to make peace with Israel; try to make sure Turkey does not drift too far away from the West — and this is just the short list of the challenges Obama, Clinton, Gates, Patreaus, Muller, etc. face and the responsibilities they shoulder.

All these challenges — and many more — would have been more difficult to meet effectively had the Koran burning taken place. All these responsibilities would have been much more difficult to carry out without as clear and as unequivocal a signal as possible to the Muslim world that the U.S. government resolutely opposed that burning.

We may substitute “legislating support for Sharia law as a felony” for “burning the Koran.”

There is no need the outlaw support for Sharia law in order to prevent Sharia from becoming the law of the land. We outlaw polygamy without declaring support for Mormonism to be a felony. Hassidic Jewish men believe that they can divorced their wives simply by repeating “I divorce you” three times. We do not allow that – without declaring support for Orthodox Judaism to be a felony.

Burning the Koran and declaring Sharia law to be a felony are not going to help in our war against terrorism. They will have the opposite effect. They are provocative and confrontational measures which will inflame Muslims around the world. You do not have to be an al Qaeda supporter to be insulted by the burning of the Koran.

Without the active support of Muslims around the world, the war against the terrorists cannot be won. One way to make sure we do not receive such support is by burning the Koran or by declaring support for Sharia law to be a felony.

Advise to Tennessee lawmakers: Look at the big picture. Your vote should support the national effort and help our troops in the field rather than hinder the former and undermine the latter.

2. Glass houses

Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan tends to shoot from the hip. Earlier in the week he sharply criticized efforts by the United States and European countries to impose sanctions on the Gaddafi regime. He denounced “any sanctions or interference that would mean the punishment of the Libyan