Where that can lead...

Comparisons, they say, are invidious, and it's not easy to say quite what desecration of a sacred symbol might mean as much to an American as the desecration of the Qu'ran does to an Afghan. Burning the US flag -- which rioting Afghans have done in response to the Guantanamo incident -- may be the closest equivalent, but it's not a capital offense in the US...

Perhaps those who felt that the salt-stain on a Chicago underpass wall was a manifestation of the Virgin Mary felt something similar when the image was defaced by graffiti, or when the Chicago authorities then painted it over. There are intensities of religious devotion, I surmise, which cut deeper than even the most precious of secular symbols.

And the Nazis? Is it invidious to compare the "abhorrent" trashing of a Qu'ran at Gitmo with Nazi trashing of a Torah and burning alive of the unfortunate man who refused to dance on it? One thing can lead to another, and to my mind the juxtaposition of the two incidents gives us an idea of the slippery slope we're on.

Condoleeza Rice:

Disrespect for the Holy Koran is not now, nor has it ever been, nor will it ever be, tolerated by the United States.. We honor the sacred books of all the world's great religions. Disrespect for the Holy Koran is abhorrent to us all...

That's public diplomacy.