COMMENTARY A US ear in the
Muslim world By Ioannis
Gatsiounis
No one expected that Karen
Hughes' "listening tour" to improve America's
image in the Muslim world would be easy. But few
thought the campaign would founder as it did.
In Saudi Arabia, she angered a room full
of Arab women when she implied that they should
fight for their right to drive. In Egypt she
erroneously accused Saddam Hussein of gassing
hundreds of thousands of his own people. In
Indonesia her defense of the Bush administration's
decision to invade Iraq engendered hostility among
students.
In Malaysia she again exculpated
the invasion. "President [George W Bush] made the
decision that he believed was in the
best
interest of American security and for greater
peace in the world."
Needless to say,
Hughes hasn't won America many new friends in her
latest role as under secretary of public
diplomacy. What she has inadvertently done is
bolster perceptions that Washington is
self-righteous beyond redemption. And without a
thorough revision, her rebranding campaign will
abet rather than assuage the "enemy".
The
root of the problem lies in the nature of her
agenda. Contrary to official spin, Hughes has not
been hired to improve America's standing in the
world, but the Bush administration's.
This
is a hopeless cause - to expect the Muslim world
to change its mind over arguably the most brazen
and unilateralist American president in history;
one who has chosen to make the Islamic world the
battle front for "freedom and democracy".
The surest way for Hughes and her envoy to
begin improving America's relations with the
Muslim world and establish the "dialogue" she
seeks would be to concede that mistakes have been
made - to distance herself from some of the
administration's more blatant foreign-policy
blunders.
As it is, in each of her stops
across the Muslim world, she came across as a
"mouthpiece" for the president, as a university
rector in Indonesia put it.
Apparently
Hughes thought promoting Bush's agenda would pass
undetected among Muslims, so long as she presented
herself as receptive and respectful. But when
you're a mouthpiece it's hard to hide the fact.
The role constricts; it alters inner
feelings and outward demeanor. The heart is not
open (though constantly strives to give the
impression it is); the mind is self-conscious,
always returning to the agenda, which is
invariably different than how it's officially
billed.
In a word, the business is
insincere. And during her tour, Hughes struggled
in vain not to appear so, often ingratiating
herself in the process. In Malaysia, for instance,
she said it had been "thrilling" to hear the
Muslim call to prayer.
Are we so naive as
to think Muslims won't detect sycophancy coming
from the lips of a Western diplomat, when
Washington has all but obliterated trust in the
Muslim world in recent years, from propping up
autocracies while purporting to promote democracy,
to claiming its main reason for invading Iraq was
to hunt for weapons of mass destruction and
liberate the Iraqi people?
One of Hughes'
main tactics has been to emphasize commonalities.
In Turkey she told women she was a mom and that
she loved kids. In Indonesia she told a group of
pre-selected students that her state of Texas was
"very big, so you cam imagine my surprise to hear
that your country, Indonesia, is three times
bigger than my big state of Texas".
It's
the big Issues, though - from Iraq and Israel to
addressing globalization, terrorism and the
agendas of multinationals - in which Muslims would
like to find common ground. They want big answers
to big questions.
They want to know
whether the most-powerful nation in the history of
the world will flex its power with restraint, that
it will respect its neighbors, that it will aim to
empower, not subjugate.
Hughes is
attempting to reassure the Muslim world via
parachute-dropping into a country for a few days
before moving on. This is hardly enough time to
win over minds, let alone hearts. It borders on
presumptuous.
Of course, Hughes' campaign
does not end with whistle-stops. She knows that
fixing America's reputation is a long-term
project. Toward that end, she'd like more students
to come to America. "I want [students] to know
they are welcome in the US and our universities
want them, that the American people welcome them,"
she said in Malaysia after opening a Lincoln
Corner there.
Lincoln Corners are spaces
in libraries dedicated to American content. The
State Department has been opening them in Muslim
countries of late, to foster greater interest in
and understanding of America.
The
challenge, said a colleague of Hughes, has been to
find locals to operate them, out of fear for their
own personal safety.
The challenge for
Hughes remains how to change that.
Ioannis Gatsiounis is an
American writer based in Kuala Lumpur.
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