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For the past several years, the United States has had an office whose main job is to tell Muslims around the world that things aren’t really as they appear. And even though two high-profile appointees – veteran ad executive Charlotte Beers and former ambassador to Morocco Margaret Tutwiler – spent tons of money (over $650 million was spent last year selling America’s image abroad, mainly through the struggling Radio Sawa and Al-Hurra stations), both found the task to be impossible and left the post within months. Why? According to a report by the Defense Science Board, the Muslim world would never be swayed with PR campaigns unless serious policy changes were made, especially regarding Israel and the Palestinians. Regardless of this inconvenient fact, most of the money was spent on feel-good stories of Muslims living the American dream, which is good if you’re trying to get more Muslims to visit the US, but not good if you’re trying win “hearts and minds” in the Muslim world. With Bush safely back in office, however, there’s a new push on this front. Karen Hughes, the Bush advisor who was mainly responsible for Bush’s rise to power, has come out of semi-retirement to apply her spin powers to the uncompleted task. “I’m eager to listen and to learn,” said Hughes, whose main job, according to George Bush, will be the countering of “hateful propaganda” in the Muslim world. But with little foreign affairs experience, and even less with the Muslim world, Hughes faces a challenge in slipping a velvet glove on America’s iron fist.
Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.
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