A US State Department report on ways to enhance America's battered image in the Arab and Muslim world is high on rhetoric and low on substance, Arab pundits told Omayma Abdel-Latif It takes a propaganda machine of the highest order to sell to the Arab world the line often used by US President George W Bush, namely that "Israel has the right to defend itself and should not be restrained from doing so." A line which the president routinely reiterates after any act of aggression committed by Israel against Palestinians, and one which was used again in the wake of Sunday's attack by Israel on Syria, in a blatant violation of international law. And according to a report compiled by a team of US advisors which assessed America's battered image in the region an efficient public relations machine is all that is required to make statements like these more digestible. "Arabs and Muslims support our values but believe that our policies do not live up to them," the report said. "A major project for public diplomacy is to reconcile this contradiction through effective communication and intelligent listening." This is one of the conclusions reached after a three-months study into ways of eradicating the "shocking levels of anti- Americanism" in the Muslim and Arab world. The ways in which the policies are communicated, and not the policies themselves, says the report, are responsible for this negative image. The 80-page report entitled Changing minds, winning peace published last Thursday was the culmination of hours of debates conducted by a team of US pundits headed by former Ambassador Edward Djerjian, a figure widely respected in the Arab world. The report was seen as the first serious attempt on the part of the US administration -- after a series of failed attempts -- to address public opinion in the Arab world. According to Ali Fayad, head of the Beirut- based Consultative Centre for Studies and Documentation -- a think-tank concerned with Islam-West relations -- the main flaw of the report is the concentration on rhetoric rather than substance. "There is an implicit assumption [running] through the report that the problem is diplomatic in nature rather than political. There is talk about the language, the performance, but [the report] fails to acknowledge the fact that the policies are the primary reason for Arab discontent," Fayad told Al-Ahram Weekly on Tuesday. His views are shared by others. An Egyptian academic, who wishes to remain anonymous, who attended a discussion with the team in Cairo in August said that, "We kept telling them that it was the policies that mattered the most in this debate. But they basically wanted to steer clear of any criticism of US policies in the region. They were simply unwilling to listen". The report comes at a time when US-Arab relations are at their lowest ebb. While some Arab commentators welcomed the report, hailing it as quite balanced, others maintain the results were undermined by the restricted mandate granted the team. The report, however, clearly acknowledges that much of the resentment towards America stems from real conflict and displeasure vis-à-vis American policies, particularly in relation to the Arab-Israeli conflict and Iraq; that US values do not always correspond with US policies; and that America's attitude towards democracy in the region is "ambivalent". Despite this acknowledgment, the report does not advocate changing US foreign policy, insisting instead that a strategic, well-managed and properly funded approach to public diplomacy is all that is required to change the US's image in the region. A point which drew angry responses from Arab commentators came under the heading "America's vision for the Arab and Muslim world". This vision, says the report, is of a peaceful and prosperous region, which is working towards "democracy, social justice, human dignity and individual freedom for all". Kuwaiti sociologist Khaldoun Al-Naquib described such an approach as a "simplification of the issues beyond recognition". Such a patronising attitude, he says, borders on racism. "I think what needs to be changed is not just US foreign policy, which I find racist, aggressive and bent on the destruction of Arab and Muslim aspirations, but in fact the very mindset of those in charge of outlining those policies," Al- Naquib told the Weekly from Kuwait on Monday. The blame for imparting distorted information in the region has been laid at the feet of the Arab media, a charge denied by Arab journalists who see this statement as an attempt to hide the real issues. One of the areas on which the report placed special emphasis was education. The report recommended establishing student exchange programmes and American centres of study in various parts of the Arab region, which could be utilised as channels for dissemination of information about the US. The American Studies Centre at Cairo University is an example of such an establishment, and the report recommended providing financial support for this institute from both public and private American funds. This news was not well received by Mohamed Kamal, deputy head of the centre and professor of American political systems at Cairo University's faculty of economics and political science. Kamal believes that any association between his centre and the US government is likely to backfire and that the centre cannot risk undermining its credibility through such a link. "These centres should be funded by Arab donors... and should not be viewed as tools for American propaganda in the region. Enhancing America's image is for the US Embassy to handle, and not for centres like ours," Kamal told the Weekly. While he described the report as being fairly balanced and constituting a positive step in the direction of improving dialogue with the US, Kamal was nonetheless dismayed by the assumption that the problem of the negative American image lies with the Arab and Muslim world, and that the problem can be resolved by engaging in intensive public relations activities. "The Americans don't have anything to sell in the Arab world except their policies, which are bad enough. Without a radical transformation of American foreign policy vis-à-vis the Middle East, even a million PR campaigns will fail to have an impact on Arab public opinion. It will simply be a waste of American tax payers' money," said Kamal who also attended a discussion with the compilers of the report. Al-Naquib explained that like most other studies of Arab public opinion, this report failed to address the real reason behind anti-American sentiments. "The real cause is simply the injustice meted out to the Palestinians, the support for the terrorist Likud government and the occupation of Iraq," Al-Naquib said. Fayad could not agree more. He believes that change should work both ways, and that the American people are the ones who were fed misinformation about the complicated regional situation. "As much as the Arab public needs to know and understand how America functions, the American public, by the same token, needs to know about the Arab world. The assumption that it is Arab attitudes and perceptions which need to undergo a radical transformation, while those of the American public remain the same, is completely incorrect, racist in nature and patronising," Fayad said.
