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Posted on 10/12/2003 11:18:56 AM PDT by padfoot_lover
A government-sponsored panel says the United States must dramatically transform its negative image in the Arab and Muslim world to better meet the dangerous challenges of extremism.
The bleak state of our relations with the Middle East was underlined by the 13-member U.S. Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy in its report titled "Changing Minds/ Winning Peace," with a subtitle that sums up the report: "A new strategic direction for U.S. Public Diplomacy in the Arab and Muslim World."
The study has come at a critical time, with tensions escalating in the Middle East and the cycle of violence taking another spiral downward. Like similar past studies, this report will gather dust unless President Bush plays a more even-handed role in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Such a move would require courage for any politician but it would transform him or her into a world-class statesman.
A recent suggestion by Democratic presidential aspirant Howard Dean that the United States be even-handed in the Middle East caused an uproar with the other Democratic White House candidates.
But if the United States is to regain its respected status in the Arab World, Washington must change its one-sided policy, which has embedded deep bitterness among Arabs.
Long before the president had to deal with 9/11 terrorism, there was an Arab-Israeli dispute and three wars in 1948, 1967 and 1973, which ended in Israeli victories, with strong American support.
More recently, the U.S. attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq are widely interpreted in the Middle East as anti-Muslim and have further enraged Arab sentiment.
But the public diplomacy study, chaired by veteran diplomat Edward P. Djerejian, the founding director of the James Baker III Institute at Rice University, will go nowhere if Bush continues his program of unrelenting favoritism toward Israel.
"Surveys show much of the resentment toward America stems from our policies," the panel said, referring to the Arab-Israeli conflict as the main point of contention.
When they visited Egypt, Syria, Turkey, France, Morocco and Senegal, panel members said they were struck by the depth of "opposition to our policies." They found citizens of those countries were "genuinely distressed at the plight of the Palestinians and the role they perceive the United States to be playing."
But the advisory group made no recommendations for a change in policy, explaining that its mandate was limited to issues of public diplomacy.
The report quotes the Pew Research Center's polling survey of last June to the effect that hostility against the United States has reached "shocking levels" in the Middle East.
Other panel members included David Abshire, former U.S. ambassador to NATO; Stephen P. Cohen, president of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development and a former professor of Near Eastern Studies at Harvard and Princeton; Farhad Kazemi, professor of politics at New York University and John Zogby, president and CEO of Zogby International, a polling firm.
Their report said the United States had "unilaterally disarmed" its public relations weapons in the aftermath of the Cold War, referring to the U.S. Information Agency and government sponsorship of libraries and culture centers abroad.
The panel recommended a reversal of that trend. In addition to increasing student and leadership exchanges, it also urged that more diplomats be taught Arabic and that thousands of American books be translated into Arabic.
The panel also said U.S.-sponsored broadcast organizations in the Middle East should be bolstered to compete with al-Jazeera, the Arabic TV network, and other Arabic outlets.
The panelists said they "saw one of our worst nightmares" in a visit to the miserable slums of Casablanca, where homes lacked plumbing but had hand-wired satellite TV dishes.
According to the report, Arabs and Muslims have a ton of media-supplied information and opinion about the United States, "much of it distorted by journalists and propagandists hostile to America."
The advisory group dropped the problem in the lap of President Bush, saying:
"The president, in every word, whether addressed to domestic or international audiences, is the most important voice influencing attitudes toward the United States or abroad."
The panelists also called for creation of a new White House office to coordinate government efforts aimed at changing Middle Eastern attitudes toward Americans.
Arabs and Muslims support our values but "believe our policies do not live up to them," the report said.
The panel acknowledged the limitations of public diplomacy, noting that "spin and manipulative public relations and propaganda are not the answer. Foreign policy counts."
Those in the Muslim world know the difference. But does the president?
Thomas is a Washington, D.C.-based columnist for the Hearst Newspapers. hthomas@hearstdc.com
The biggest lie above is that "Arabs and Muslims support our values". They don't support anything but our complete annihilation, Helen, get a clue! No matter what our policy is, they would still be teaching that we are the great satan.....
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I see that Helen's dyslexia has kicked in again. That should be:
Change Arab world image with U.S. or else!
Let's not forget the three thousand innocent American souls that perished. Twice as many as Pearl Harbor, and it's our problem to be nice about getting even?
Would that be the negative image due to cynical journalism which hypes our difficulties and shortcomings?Or would it be the negative image due to a history of backing away from terrorism whenever liberals have the clout to arrange it?
Or the negative image of a country that needs to be liked so much that it would put the "united tyrannies" in control of our security?
NEWSFLASH: Helen, most Americans don't care what the Arab world thinks of us...and the Arabs were bitter long before there was ever a United States.
Then put a bag over your head, you ugly witch!
Long before the president had to deal with 9/11 terrorism, there was an Arab-Israeli dispute and three wars in 1948, 1967 and 1973, which ended in Israeli victories, with strong American support.
So, this is Helen's agenda. She's anti-Israel. I hadn't realized this. [This just goes to show you how much of her work I've read.]
Actually, the premise is correct: mohams worldwide are going to have to see we mean business and that we will go THROUGH as many or THEM as it takes to EASILY (without loss of American soldiers' lives) get to the bad actors.
We need to change our image from pansy, fretting-over-what-FRANCE-will think, etc., to getting the job done (as we did successfully in WWII.)
Their image of us is WEAK. Nothing has changed that. If they view the US media, they see hand-wringing concern and crocidile tears over the "inhumane" treatment of ragheads in Gitmo, for example.
This has got to change. IF what the mohams say is true---that it is only SOME of their ranks who want to destroy Western civilization---let them rat out these perps. If they don't do it themselves, we'll use a dull knife to cut out the bad guys. And we will do it with remote control---out of range, so no more of our guys get it.
Our new image must be this: we are so fearsome and awesome and RUTHLESS that parents will turn in their children, children will turn in their parents, and men will crap in thier pants when they hear the sound of an approaching American aircraft.
For those in the US, they can renounce this cult and its violent creed, recognize God, and pledge allegiance to the USA. Or they can spend the rest of their lives in Gitmo or similar accomidations. Or hell, just send 'em back to Afghani caves----that is, if the caves survive a couple of nukes.
So most of the nations in the Middle East don't like the United States. Most of the nations allied with Adolf Hitler during World War II had a very low opinion of the United States. Their attitudes did not change until we had stomped them flat, militarily. Presumably, Ms. Thomas' attitudes toward the United States would also change, if she was stomped flat. Just a thought.
Congressman Billybob
Should we start by feeding them Israel?
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