Phil Taylor's papers
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BACK TO : PROPAGANDA 'OWN GOALS' IN THE GWOT
'Good job' apologizing may not help by John Hall 
'Good job' apologizing may not help JOHN HALL POINT OF VIEW Times Dispatch, Sunday, May 9, 2004 WASHINGTON If it did nothing else, the Iraq prisoner-abuse scandal caused the administration to begin paying attention to what had been a lost cause: Arab and Muslim public opinion. Suddenly, the government, from President Bush on down, seemed last week to understand that the war in Iraq is not about pulling down statues or even capturing rogue leaders cowering in pits. The enormous and breathtaking contempt for American society, long festering in this huge civilization, was further inflamed by pictures and reports of U.S. guards treating Iraqi prisoners like dogs. Bush, after finishing a campaign bus trip, tried to lance the wound with two interviews Wednesday on Arab television - one with Al-Arabiya Television, which is a Dubai-based satellite network that is independent, and Al-Hurra, a satellite network that is sponsored and financed by the U.S. government. The next day, he met with Jordan's King Abdullah II and said he was sorry for the humiliation of the prisoners - but also sorry that people seeing those pictures didn't understand "the true nature and heart of America." On Friday, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld apologized and accepted responsibility in appearances before the House and Senate armed services committees. This capped several days of explanations and pleas for forgiveness to the Iraqi people by American uniformed and civilian officials. This was by far the most embarrassing moment of the Iraq war for the United States. The political ruckus at home was, if anything, getting bigger than the international outcry. Reaction to the U.S. apologies overseas was mixed. Bush's TV interviews weren't widely reported on Arab news and fell like drops of water in the desert. But he did get credit for addressing the anger and pain that many in and out of Islam feel toward the United States. The administration, before its hand was forced by this scandal, tried to handle its problem with Arabs and Muslims by delegating "public diplomacy" to a State Department agency - headed first by a Madison Avenue advertising executive and then a veteran public-relations professional who quit in frustration. Bush's hastily arranged Arab TV appearances indicate that the continuing generation of Islamic hatred for the United States no longer can be ignored and marginalized. It is a presidential-level problem. The mere willingness of a U.S. president - not just Bush, but any president - to talk directly to Arabs and Muslims is something of a novelty. Many forces are arrayed in the Middle East against presidential communication. Israelis have never liked direct U.S.-Palestinian dialogue. The Saudi royal family and most of the other despotic regimes don't like outsiders stirring up troubles with their citizens. It is a wonder any word has gotten through about the glories of George Washington's descendants. The satellite is made to cut through this blockade - but the enemy has it. The challenge of the new century is not the "winning the hearts and minds" template of distributing chewing gum and soccer balls to smiling children. The challenge is to stop the poison. Religious schools educate future terrorists. News organizations such as the Al-Jazeera satellite network spew out daily stories of U.S. brutality in Afghanistan and Iraq under a veneer of journalistic objectivity and bogus press freedom. The prison scandal, even though it has been condemned at home as widely as it has abroad, has been inflammatory to Muslims and is expected to play into the hands of the anti-American propaganda juggernaut. But Al-Jazeera, the most widely watched of the networks in Arab households, did not seem as one-sided in reporting Bush's interviews with its competitors as it had been expected to be. It merely said Bush had appeared as part of a public-relations offensive. Chalk up a little progress. Some students of the Middle East think Bush should have invited Al-Jazeera for an interview, too. Al-Arabiya, after all, has been just as inflammatory at times. It ran a tape of Saddam Hussein when he was in hiding that urged people to attack the U.S.-appointed governing council. American forces temporarily banned the network from Iraq. As for Al-Hurra, the interview was professional. Unfortunately, Bush ended by telling the correspondent, "Good job." Al-Hurra already is struggling to live down a reputation as a U.S. propaganda arm. That didn't help much. |