So I'm listening to NPR and I just heard this in an interview with Karen Hughes, our esteemed Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy:

"One of the things that I heard as I traveled throughout the Middle East is concern about the Israeli-Palestinian policy. I came back from my first trip and relayed to both the secretary (of State) and the president that, to the extent that we could be seen as visibly working to improve life for the Palestinian people," [it] would improve the U.S. image across the world.

Excuse me? She didn't know this until she went on her freakin' trip?? She didn't know this was a huge concern for Muslims everywhere? And she had to explain this to Bush and Condi?

Well, this team is doing a bang-up job, and I can certainly see why.