US begins new pitch to Muslim world

Karen Hughes, a folksy Texan and longtime confidante of President Bush, has one of the toughest jobs in the US government: convincing the rest of the world, particularly the Arab world, that US policies are in their best interests.

She started her first week as the State Department's top public relations officer with a "listening tour" of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. But she won't have to listen too closely to hear the widespread anger over perceived US arrogance and heavyhandedness - perceptions difficult to undo as she engages with the Middle East for the first time in her career.

While her friendliness was welcomed by Egyptian students, all on US government scholarships, at her only appearance open to the public here, Ms. Hughes signaled the US wouldn't back down from its post-9/11 goals: focus on the war on terror as a global struggle, and emphasis on a lack of understanding of US policy as the reason people are so angry at America.

It's an approach that failed her two predecessors in the job, Charlotte Beers and Margaret Tutwiler, who presided over a huge slide in America's global image, largely due to the war in Iraq.

In 10 countries surveyed in 2000 by Pew, an average of 60 percent of the people had favorable images of the US. By the middle of this year, that average dropped to 40 percent. A Zogby International poll found that 22 percent of Egyptians had a favorable view of the US in 2002. By the end of last year, that number had slipped to 2 percent.

"I'm glad she spoke to us, but I didn't find her answers very convincing,'' says Mary Essam Wases, a business major at American University in Cairo who met with Hughes. "They said they were looking for weapons of mass destruction - well, that was a fake goal. There weren't any. It doesn't mean I agree with Saddam's reign, but I see that the country is worse off than before."

Ms. Wases also shares the common Arab view, confirmed by polling, that America has made the world a more dangerous place. "They want to stop terrorism but they're helping it to spread," she says. Egypt, a close American ally, has experienced three major terrorist attacks in the past year, following a six-year lull.

Though Hughes has acknowledged on her trip that many are frustrated with America's policies, changing tack in that arena is outside of her formal job description. She does, however, have the ear of President Bush, which distinguishes her from her predecessors.

Hughes is a former executive director of the Republican Party in Texas and served as the director of Bush's communications office during his six years as governor and during his 2000 presidential election campaign and also helped write President Bush's autobiography.

Page: 1 | 2