It is neither a secret nor a surprise that the United States has image problems in the Middle East. After all, when not even a majority of Midwesterners support the war in Iraq, it seems a bit of a stretch to expect Middle Easterners not feel the same way. Recognizing that this anger is raising the profile of Islamic radicals in the Middle East, the Bush administration has launched various initiatives intended to revamp America's image.
As the focus of the fury, the Bush administration deserves credit for not deciding that selling America in the Middle East is too tall an order to try at all. This makes it all the more unfortunate that all our efforts to date have ended in catastrophic, almost comical, failure.
To be fair to the diplomats involved in our image makeover, the government hasn't exactly set them up for success. It took until November 2004, when the Defense Department stated: 'Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies.' Acknowledging officially, at last, that hostility in the Middle East towards the United States is the result of specific policies, and not just a few bad apples that are resentful of our global hegemony. But rather than making a concerted effort to explain why policies like our steadfast support of Israel or the invasion of Iraq serve as more than just self interest, the Bush administration decided to bombard the Middle East with one message: America's Muslims are happy.
TV audiences in the Middle East were treated to insights from 'real' American Muslims, who, in the 'Leave it to Beaver' tones of political commercials lauded the virtues of America. The ads failed. They were lampooned by the Middle Eastern press who accused the United States of being condescending. Charlotte Beers, the brain behind the propaganda pieces, was let go. Her successor to the post of public diplomacy, lasted for only six months, and was replaced by the high-profile Karen Hughes'loyal ally of the President.
Hughes concluded last month what was dubbed as a 'listening tour' of the Middle East. She did her fair share of talking. In Cairo, she told reporters about 'the important role that faith plays in Americans' lives.' In Ankara, she stretched the wit of man to its limits with 'I love all kids. And I understand that this is something that I have in common with the Turkish people.'
Karen Hughes does not speak Arabic or have a working knowledge of Middle Eastern history. She was not a prudent choice for the most difficult diplomatic endeavor in modern history. Imagine how foolish and insulting this is to Middle Easterners. Imagine how it would appear to us if, as Fred Kaplan writes, 'if a Muslim leader wanted to improve Americans' image of Islam, it's doubtful that he would send as his emissary a woman in a black chador who had spent no time in the United States, possessed no knowledge of our history... and spoke no English.' It's safe to assume that we would not be too impressed, and not surprisingly neither was the Middle East with Hughes. But Karen Hughes looks like Edward Said when compared to Bush's newest appointee, Paul Bonicelli.
Bonicelli is the new head to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is crucial to any efforts to spread democracy in Iraq and the Middle East. But Bonicelli is more likely going to be spreading the gospel. As The New Republic reports, Bonicelli served as dean at the ultra-fundamentalist Patrick Henry College, whose motto is: 'For Christ and Liberation,' and where all students have to sign a 'statement of faith' saying 'Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, is God come in the flesh...all who die outside Christ shall be confined in conscious torment in eternity.'
Sounds like just the man who should be given the task of convincing the vast majority of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims that they are mistaken in thinking that the U.S. is waging a war against Islam. I can just imagine his listening tour of the Middle East.
'The people of Iraq are free and will continue to grow democratically...but after that, unfortunately, it is the view of the United States that the people of Iraq will endure conscious torment in eternity.'
Diplomacy in the Middle East? Eh, would have been nice, but hey, at least the region knows that before enduring an eternity of torture, America's Muslims were happy.
