The Missing Two-Way Street

In an effort to win hearts and minds, the Bush administration’s public diplomacy initiatives in the Muslim World have failed to do either. It squandered opportunities to gain valuable insight into anti- U.S. sentiment, opting instead for a psychological operations-style campaign aimed at explaining the benefits of U.S. foreign policy to the Middle East. As Muslim opinion of the U.S. continues to plummet in the wake of Karen Hughes' resignation, the public diplomacy shop faces an uphill battle.

First, most initiatives are ethnocentric and fail to address serious issues. One disastrous example was Hi! magazine, which targeted teenagers in the Muslim World with articles on sand-boarding, yoga, and online dating. This assimilation approach flopped because it demonstrated a lack of connection with Muslim youth. It put the cart before the horse, attempting to win them over before understanding their interests and concerns.

Second, public diplomacy must be a two-way street. The Bush administration appears to want Muslims abroad to listen while not making an effort to listen in return. As a start, officials should poll Muslim communities abroad to gain insight into general Muslim priorities and concerns about U.S. foreign policy. These results may give officials a starting point, a sobering idea of opinion on the ground.

The administration should also send a real listening tour to the Muslim world. This tour would not consist of apologist speeches, like Hughes' visits to the Arab world in 2006, or of prepared sound bites for Al Jazeera, but rather of serious inquiries and frank discussions conducted at the grassroots and business levels with the goal of understanding concerns. Such initiatives could reveal where policies have been misguided.

Third, and most importantly, public diplomacy will not fix what foreign policy has broken. The Bush administration should spend less time concerned about image and wake up to the impact that unilateral U.S. foreign policy decisions had on the Muslim World in the past six years. In a 2006 interview with the Council on Foreign Relations, Hughes admitted, "policy must match public diplomacy." In Pakistan, Turkey, and Indonesia, and other Muslim countries, opinions of the U.S. are at an all-time low. Information campaigns to rally support for policies will not turn the tide. The U.S. will improve its image only by changing its policies.

The Bush administration faces a formidable but not impossible task. It should shift its focus from selling U.S. policy to the Muslim World to learning, understanding, and developing sincere dialogue with Muslims abroad. Public diplomacy efforts will not reverse anti- U.S. sentiment while foreign policies in the Middle East remain unchanged. However, if undertaken in good faith, measures such as those outlined above could alter our current disastrous course and pave the way for a new road ahead.