Important article on public diplomacy in today's Washington Post. Robin Wright captures quite well the Bush administration's complete failure to reach out to Muslims and Arabs, and the frustration this has engendered in those of us who have been urging them to take it seriously. Shibley Telhami says it well: " "It's worse than failing. Failing means you tried and didn't get better. But at this point, three years after September 11, you can say there wasn't even much of an attempt, and today Arab and Muslim attitudes toward the U.S. and the degree of distrust in the U.S. are far worse than they were three years ago. Bin Laden is winning by default."
You might recall that Margaret Tutwiler quit as public diplomacy czar after only six months. She's been a good soldier and has refrained from publicly criticizing the administration. But her quote in this article comes close: ""The activities associated with public diplomacy need to be seriously prioritized on an equal level with an aircraft carrier. Both are equally important." By implication, they have not been treated as such.. hence her frustration and her resignation.
As for al Hurra, former ambassador Edward Walker - one of the few American official-types to personally go on al Jazeera and effectively argue the American case - says this: ""Sawa seems to be having some impact, but the reaction to al Hurra has been very negative. People watch it once or twice and then turn to al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya -- if they're inclined to look at news."
Everybody who pays attention to public diplomacy and international public opinion - whether on the right or on the left - agrees that American public diplomacy efforts are a mess. I don't think that it's possible for Bush to do much about this anymore - attitudes towards this administration are fixed and unlikely to change. Let's hope that a Kerry administration can do better.
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