Evidently, Karen Hughes no longer needs to spend time with her family, the reason she gave for leaving her post as presidential counselor in 2002. Now, if approved by the Senate, she will return to government employ as the nominee for undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs.

It will be Hughes' mission to improve America's image abroad, especially in the Muslim world.

"We simply must do more to confront hateful propaganda, dispel dangerous myths and get out the truth," Rice said when she announced Hughes' nomination Monday. (Full text of Rice's and Hughes' comments can be found at http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2005/43385.htm.)

Anything we can do to let others in the world understand that, for the most part, we have the same fears, dreams and needs as they do will certainly help ease tensions that exist. Reaching out in this way might only be the beginning of a dialogue. It might take years for old hatreds to die out, for people to appreciate the people of other nations, but we need to actively start that dialogue now.

But improving our image abroad should not be a one-way street. Both Rice and Hughes noted Monday that we must improve our understanding of others. That might be easier said than done. Americans, especially since 9/11, have been more prone to merely preach tolerance than to practice it when it comes to Muslims.

So, we must also confront the propaganda of hate spewed by Americans who consider all Muslims extremists, dispel the myths that define fanaticism as the major tenet of the Islamic religion and look for the core truths that show people, no matter what their beliefs, more alike than different.

That won't happen until we stop treating the Muslim religion as a terrorist religion.

Consider Jerry Falwall on "60 Minutes" in June 2003: "I think Mohammed was a terrorist. I read enough of the history of his life, written by both Muslims and non-Muslims, that he was a violent man, a man of war."

Consider the book "The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims," edited by Robert Spencer, published by Prometheus Books. Spencer's book is being marketed as one that "brings to light the deeply ingrained historical, cultural, and religious elements of a profound modern crisis — the violence, fanaticism, and contempt for outsiders that characterizes much of the Islamic world today."

These types of inflammatory statements are not the way to win the hearts and minds of those in the Islamic world. Trying to turn America's battered image abroad around is a admirable goal. But it will not succeed if, at the same time, we don't counter the hate talk and fear-mongering circulating within our own borders.