Can America Spin Away Anti-U.S. Hatred in Islamic Countries?
“What is troubling is the panel’s use of public funds to conduct a study that stated the obvious and downplayed the root cause of the anger among Muslims ..” A study group chosen by the Bush administration has just spent the public’s tax dollars reaching a conclusion worthy of Rip Van Winkle: “Hostility toward America has reached shocking levels.” And their recommendation for a remedy is to spend even more government money enhancing and revamping U.S. public relations efforts among Muslims. Unfortunately, putting lipstick on a U.S. government pig is difficult. A better solution is to do the difficult soul-searching needed for a change in U.S. policies toward the Islamic world. What is troubling is the panel’s use of public funds to conduct a study that stated the obvious and downplayed the root cause of the anger among Muslims. If the U.S. government really wanted to find out what the people in Islamic countries really thought about America, rather than commissioning a study, it would
