Following a path of moderation and cooperating closely with the various religious groups, and with both secular and religious forces, Chebab was able to cool tensions and bring stability back to the nation.

State Department officials have said repeatedly that they do not intend to try direct mediation of the decades-old dispute over Kashmir, but to try to impress on both sides the need to cool tensions.

"Rather than cooling tensions in Baghdad, the situation has descended further into chaos."

And some White House allies were trying to cool tensions.

"The intifada continues to have a catalytic effect, which makes any appeal for reciprocal measures to cool tensions rather delicate," a Western diplomat said.

The arrests did little to cool tensions in an emotionally charged case.

The statement angered American officials who are hoping to cool tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

The threat to the hostages prevented NATO from acting more forcefully, and the Serbs released 121 hostages immediately after the incident in an effort to cool tensions.

By contrast, United Nations reflagging would cool tensions by assuring commercial shipping of peaceful passage.

Just three months before the recent spate of violence, which resulted in about 200 deaths, Christian and Muslim leaders in Kaduna had forged a peace agreement aimed at cooling longstanding tensions.