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After Sept 11 Bush posed the question: Why do they hate us? Then he answered:
They hate us because of our freedoms.
Well, that answer was directed towards the Americans who were increasingly
asking the question after 9/11. Bush had only repeated that question to tell the
citizens of the US that the people who live without democracy and freedom envy
the free world and hate the US and no other real reasons were there. Is it so?
That the US is hated because of its greatness and for being the land of freedom
and democracy and its ideals and values?
The
people of the Middle East and of Central and Latin America and East Asia, and
all around the world, have a correct answer to this question. Bush would have
done a better job had he asked them first. But as he really knew what others
would say he preferred to give his own answer.
That
answer, which the people of these regions would have given, continues to haunt
the Bush Administration. It feels a dire necessity to change that image abroad
with a good public relations project. The Washington Post carried an item on
July 30 where this necessity was highlighted and the possible measures being
looked into were cited. This has especially become necessary in view of the
current "War Without an End" that the US has declared on the world. They know
that this hatred towards the US is bound to grow more and more as this war
advances into new lands from Afghanistan to Philippines to Iraq to Colombia.
Like
any TNC advertiser the US’ Office of Global Communication is to launch a huge
public relations campaign that will strive to change the US image abroad. That
the people should really start believing in what the US says. For example, that
it takes care of the people of the countries against whose governments it
launches wars; that it is really a land of freedom and democracy; that for the
US the interests of the people worldwide are paramount; that where the bombs are
meant for the armies the food packets are meant for the people; that it cares.
It wants the world to believe that Saddam is an evil and when the US acts to
change the regimes of Iraq and Iran it is really according to the wishes of the
people there and the US has no other motives. The huge exercise in "public
diplomacy" is to be carried through twenty-four hour radio and TV channel
broadcasts in Arabic to the Middle East and North African countries.
The
Washinton Post reports that the US administration "has been exploring" how to
enhance the image of the United States "through polling, focus groups and
fact-finding missions." Just as they "manufacture opinion", similarly, they
intend to change the image of the US through propaganda and ideological
offensive. This way, like Goebble, they intend to win "desperately needed
friends and supporters." Graham E. Fuller, a former vice chairman of the CIA’s
National Intelligence Council says that the US is being "increasingly [put] on
the defensive" in the Middle East and the number of its friends "is dwindling".
Known as "public diplomacy," it attempts to address the question Bush posed in
his speech to Congress the week after the terrorist attacks: "Why do they hate
us?"
House International Relations Committee Chairman Rep. Henry J. Hyde is disturbed
that the US has allowed "such a destructive and parodied image" to be cultivated
abroad though it invented Hollywood and Madison Square. He wonders, "How has
this state of affairs come about?" But, there is no wonder. The US image is very
real and reflects the reality.
The
US is planning to set up "American Rooms" as it had done in the early 1990s in
Russia. Under this plan American Cultural Centers and libraries are to be set up
around the world with local staff. Walter R. Roberts, a veteran of high posts in
public diplomacy, says that with these efforts, "We’re reinventing the wheel."
The
US experts want that the US should go beyond the elite circles and address
itself to the common people in a campaign like offensive as is done in the times
of elections to "swing voters."
The
US papers report that the Congress has passed, with one voice, a Hyde-sponsored
bill "that eventually would add hundreds of millions of dollars to the public
diplomacy budget", "establish civilian exchange programs in the Muslim world and
fund round-the-clock satellite television to the Middle East."
Almost every public policy think tank, including the American Enterprise
Institute and the Brookings Institution, are holding symposiums and offering
advice. Christopher Ross, a State Department specialist in Middle Eastern
affairs and a "special coordinator", said, "In the 10 years between the Cold War
and September 11, we had forgotten about the outside world." The US imperialists
are shocked at what the people worldwide think of them. In spite of the
widespread sympathy the US gained for a while after 9/11, the hatred is on the
increase which has forced the State Department to devise means to counter it
through propaganda. They are afraid to admit that it is the US
actions that have won this hatred for it.
And
no cosmetic surgery can change this image. The people around the world can only
hate the US imperialists for their crimes.
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