[iwar] [fc:In.War.Of.Words,.US.Lags.Behind]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-18 08:32:02
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 08:32:02 -0700 (PDT)
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Christian Science Monitor
October 17, 2001
In War Of Words, US Lags Behind 
From food aid to news interviews, US steps up 'public diplomacy' in Mideast.

By Francine Kiefer and Ann Scott Tyson, Staff writers of The Christian
Science Monitor 
WASHINGTON - In a tacit acknowledgment that it is far behind in the
propaganda war, the Bush administration is stepping up efforts to win the
hearts and minds of the Muslim world.
Whether by dropping leaflets in Afghanistan or appearing on the Arab news
network Al Jazeera, US officials are now seeing the war of words as a
crucial part of the antiterrorism effort - especially given the magnetic
draw of Osama bin Laden among many Muslims.
"We have to do a better job" getting the US message out, says Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was to be interviewed by Al Jazeera
yesterday. He followed National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, who on
Monday told the network that "our war on terrorism is not a war against
Islam."
Yet former diplomats, Arab experts, and even administration officials
consider the job of "public diplomacy" truly daunting.
Years of shrinking budgets and neglect have allowed deep mistrust and
resentment of the US to take root, they say.
That resentment is borne out in anti-American demonstrations in Muslim
countries such as Indonesia and Pakistan. A recent Gallup poll found that 83
percent of Pakistanis sympathize with the Taliban in the current conflict,
and only 3 percent with the US.
"We've been totally out of the game for many years as far as making much of
an impact on Middle East opinion," says Sam Lewis, US ambassador to Israel
in the Carter and Reagan administrations. "We've never gotten past the
elites," he says, adding, "I'm not terribly optimistic that you can do a
whole lot about this, because the cultural gaps are so huge."
Additionally, anti-American feelings are not purely the result of
misunderstanding "how good we are," as President Bush said in his press
conference last week. They also spring from a conviction that US policies in
the Middle East are wrong.
The administration has made it clear that it has no intention of changing
its policies, but even if it simply wants to explain them better - as
officials say they do - that will not be easy.
"There's so much mistrust connected with policy that clearly it's hard to
persuade people unless something a little more than just a public-relations
campaign is done," says Shibley Telhami, a Middle East expert at the
University of Maryland in College Park.
So far, the administration is fighting the war of perceptions on multiple
fronts.
In Afghanistan, US military planes began leaflet drops Sunday. As part of
the Pentagon's "psychological operations," or PSYOPS, the leaflets
underscored the Bush administration's message of friendship with the Afghan
people and directed the local population to tune into US-run radio
broadcasts.
One leaflet shows a man in native Afghan clothing shaking hands with a
Western soldier, under the words, "The partnership of nations is here to
help."
Broadcasts into Afghanistan by Commando Solo, the EC-130 planes of the US
Army's Special Operations Forces, began a day after airstrikes started. They
use both shortwave and AM frequencies, rebroadcasting Voice of America (VOA)
for about five hours each morning and evening.
Furthermore, a US bill to set up "Radio Free Afghanistan" has widespread
support among congressional leaders. It would be operated by Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty, which ran an Afghanistan program in the 1980s but
discontinued it.
VOA spokeswoman Letitia King says VOA plans to expand broadcasts in
Afghanistan, where research from 1999 and 2000 shows that 70 percent of
adult Afghan males tune in daily. But others say the charismatic pull of
Osama bin Laden and his message of holy war have had a mesmerizing effect.
"The president is doing a great job on the domestic front, but from
everything I see, Osama bin Laden is winning in the Middle East," says a
former US Army special operations colonel, commenting on the PSYOPS war.
While administration officials are appearing on Al Jazeera, they are also
trying to beef up their own broadcasting network in the region. VOA,
criticized by its governing board for having little impact in the Middle
East, seeks funds to double its Arabic shortwave programming from the
current nine to 18 hours a day.
In addition, VOA has asked for a 2002 budget increase of $30 million to
launch a new Middle East Network, a 24-hour service on FM and AM frequencies
aimed at younger Arabs. The plan has passed the House but not the Senate.
At the same time, the State Department is asking for a budget increase of
6.8 percent to beef up its "public diplomacy" work and add 55 positions. The
area experienced major cutbacks in the 1980s and '90s, including the
elimination of the US Information Agency.
On the humanitarian front, US cargo planes have dropped about 275,000 food
packets in Afghanistan since military strikes began. Mr. Bush has also
kicked off a fundraising drive similar to the 1938 March of Dimes campaign,
in which he's asking every American child to send $1 to the White House to
help Afghan children.
But Bush needs to run "a more believable" humanitarian campaign, says Arab
expert Michael Hudson at Georgetown University. "It has to be a lot more
than dropping a few pallets from an airplane."
Mr. Hudson says it's possible to go substantively beyond the
administration's messages without turning US policy on its head. Washington,
he says, has to significantly step up its efforts to negotiate an
Israeli-Palestinian settlement. Others say it also needs to develop an
economic-assistance package for the region.
"Significant things can be done," says Hudson, "that do not require a
180-degree turn in policy."

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