Shooting a Koran

These things can happen with some soldiers letting off steam or misbehaving. But the symbolism is awful.

One major issue with John McCain's belief that the US can stay in Iraq indefinitely in a non-combat role is that occupying Muslim countries - with extreme religious and social sensitivity - is fraught with potential for offense. These offenses - in a religiously polarized world - can have very serious consequences, strategically, militarily and politically. When trying to counteract Islamist extremism, we have to find a balance between enabling it by too much distance and empowering it through too much proximity. This requires a delicate touch, and as light a footprint as possible. Alas, a delicate touch is not what McCain is now for. Of course, compared with Bush and Cheney ...