Phil Taylor's papers
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BACK TO : PROPAGANDA AND THE GWOT Year 3 - 2004 (mainly Iraq)
U.S. hobbled by inability to fix its global image by Finlay Lewis 
U.S. hobbled by inability to fix its global image By Finlay Lewis COPLEY NEWS SERVICE May 10, 2004 WASHINGTON - The Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal has dealt a devastating blow to the overseas image of the United States at a time when the government's public relations machinery has fallen into disrepair, a victim of policies followed by administrations of both parties. Several studies since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have documented the long-term dismantlement of the U.S. public diplomacy apparatus, causing many experts to warn that the White House may now be hobbled in responding to global outrage over mistreated Iraqi prisoners. "What we have is a public diplomacy nightmare," said Joseph Duffey, a former director of the U.S. Information Agency, a front-line unit in the public diplomacy effort during the Cold War. "Where I come out is with the old Woody Allen adage: '90 percent of life is showing up,' " said Edward P. Djerejian, director of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. "And we're not showing up in a significant manner in the Arab and Muslim world in promoting and explaining . . . (to) these populations our values, our policies, and much more needs to be done." A government commission, headed by Djerejian and set up at Congress' request, issued a warning seven months ago. "The apparatus of public diplomacy has proven inadequate, especially in the Arab and Muslim world," the commission said. " . . . A process of unilateral disarmament in the weapons of advocacy over the last decade has contributed to widespread hostility" toward the United States. A White House official defended the public diplomacy structure. But the official, who would not be quoted by name because of the sensitivity of the issue, added: "This is a difficult problem. . . . Everyone here understands the stakes and the importance of these efforts. We are constantly looking for ways to help balance the message in world public opinion." The dissemination of photos depicting prisoner humiliation at the hands of GIs has only made the problem worse. Specialists emphasize that damage-control gimmicks will be of no use and that the government must turn its attention to U.S. policies that are stirring resentment across the Islamic world. They say the prisoner abuse scandal underscores the need to revitalize an effort credited with helping to win the Cold War. The campaign, hobbled by a decade of budget-slashing, would involve beefing up initiatives such as government recruiting of language experts, reopening foreign libraries and cultural centers, and the sponsoring of credible foreign-language broadcasts and university exchange programs. The commission report also looked at digital technology, noting that many developing countries are becoming well-positioned to tap into sophisticated mobile Internet services. But Djerejian, a former White House aide and former ambassador to Syria and Israel, argued that the best immediate remedy for the current crisis would be the prosecution of those who abused the prisoners. "The one good thing that could come out of this is a demonstration, in the face of these atrocious images and acts, that we are truly wedded to the rule of law," Djerejian said. James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, agreed that a public relations offensive would do little good. "At the end of the day, policies trump any of these initiatives," said Zogby, a member of a separate public diplomacy commission sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations. "What you do is more important, always, than what you say. What you say can reinforce impressions by people observing what you do, but it cannot counter it in any significant way." Zogby and some involved with the study say that the government needs to be seen as evenhanded in trying to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before making headway in reversing negative attitudes in the Islamic world. But they also argue that public diplomacy - the attempt to explain and advocate U.S. policies and values - remains important, Djerejian said, because "we are involved in a struggle for ideas with the forces of radicalism (and) extremism" across the Islamic world. To that degree, the effort has been hampered both by budget cutbacks stemming in part from the collapse of the Soviet Union more than a decade ago and more recently from personnel turnover in crucial posts in the Bush administration. Margaret Tutwiler, an experienced and respected State Department veteran, recently announced that she will be quitting her post as undersecretary of public diplomacy to take a job on Wall Street. Tutwiler had replaced Charlotte Beers, a former advertising executive who left the post 14 months ago. Also, Karen Hughes, one of President Bush's closest aides, left the White House two years ago as head of the Office of Global Communications, a unit designed to coordinate government communications worldwide. Many experts also feel that Congress and the Clinton administration damaged the public diplomacy effort by folding the U.S. Information Agency into the State Department, a move viewed as having damaged its independence and effectiveness. Duffey, the former director of the agency, suggested that the gravity of the prisoner abuse scandal has been deepened by the inability of top officials to recognize the potential for political dynamite when evidence of abuse began to trickle out. "The thing that would matter most was the sensitivity to realize early what a serious issue this was, even when it first raised its head," Duffey said. In its report, the congressional commission described collecting testimony in Morocco indicating that Islamic extremists have successfully branded Americans as brutal overlords in Iraq and anti-Muslim bigots at home. "These depictions are dead wrong," the commission said, "but they stick because it is rare that governments or individuals in the region are prepared to take up our side of the story and because the United States has deprived itself of the means to respond effectively - or even to be a significant part of the conversation." |