President Bush's official heir cranked up his aggressive rhetoric , over the week-end, towards Hamas. Senator McCain stated: " I will be Hamas's worst nightmare..."

This type of counter productive stance remind us of the one made by President Bush when he told Iraqi's insurgents " To bring it on..." ,a few years ago.

When Ben and I talked last week to Maj. Todd Schmidt about his proposal that the U.S. encourage Western-style education in the Muslim world -- part of winning the "war of ideas" in the war on terror -- there was one clear hitch: Would the Muslim world accept U.S. education efforts? Schmidt's response: The U.S. probably needs to keep its fingerprints off the program and work through international institutions.

This probably isn't good:

The Bush administration’s continued backing of President Pervez Musharraf, despite the overwhelming rejection of his party by voters this month, is fueling a new level of frustration in Pakistan with the United States.