The Bush administration, worried that public opinion abroad has turned against the American military campaign in Afghanistan, is making a major effort to take its case to the foreign and especially the Islamic news media.
Yesterday, Bush was scheduled to give a speech about fighting terrorism, which will be beamed by satellite to a conference in Poland of Central European leaders. Top policy makers have also been making themselves available to the Islamic news media.
The administration's efforts to win international support for its campaign against Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and the Taliban government in Afghanistan is inherently difficult because the message administration officials are providing at home is at odds with expectations of foreign governments.
While administration officials have sought to prepare Americans for a long and difficult conflict, Pakistan and other nations in the region are hoping for a short war and the quick exit of US troops.
As part of the American information campaign, General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently gave an interview to al Jazeera, the all-news Arab satellite television channel that broadcast bin Laden's tirades against the US. Yesterday, Secretary of State Colin Powell gave an interview to Egyptian television.
Ad campaign
The State Department is also planning a television and advertising campaign to try to influence Islamic opinion; one segment could feature American celebrities, including sports stars, and a more emotional message. It is being planned by Charlotte Beers, the new undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, who came to the administration after a long career on Madison Avenue.
In all conflicts, winning the information war has been an essential element of military strategy. But with lingering resentment in the Arab world about America's superpower status, support for Israel and cultural dominance, countering the Taliban's information offensive has not been easy.
The US says its intense air attacks are necessary to destroy the terrorist network and topple the Taliban government, and it has stressed that it is trying to avoid civilian casualties and is not at war with the Afghan people. But the specter of bombs falling on an impoverished country has been used by the Taliban to foment opposition to Americans.
Public sentiment in Islamic countries could have profound implications for American national security. An upheaval in Pakistan, for example, could raise concerns about the security of its nuclear stockpile. It could also deprive the US of a base of operations for its military campaign. The American military is also using bases in the Persian Gulf.
"We have been hearing from Arab leaders and others who support us who say you guys need to do more," a senior administration official said, referring to the information campaign. "They say, `al Jazeera is killing us.'"
Provoking anger
One nation where the message conveyed in the American media has provoked anger is Saudi Arabia, where Crown Prince Abdullah criticized reports questioning the kingdom's commitment to the anti-terrorism effort. In a speech broadcast Sunday he said Bush, in a recent telephone call, had expressed regrets for stories that drove a wedge between the countries.
The White House yesterday did not characterize the comments as an apology, saying the president believed that any depiction of the US at odds with Saudi Arabia was wrong.
The Islamic world, however, is not the only concern for Washington. Reports that civilians have been bombed have led to a measurable drop in European support for the campaign. "The conduct of the war alarms Europe," the French newspaper Le Monde said recently.
To soothe Islamic opinion, the Pentagon has modulated the message it has delivered in the region. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday that the war might be over in a matter of months.
In a Pentagon briefing last week, however, Rumsfeld sent a different message to the American people. "We're still in the very, very early stages of this conflict," he said. "The US bombed Japan for three and a half years, until August 1945, before they accomplished their objectives."
To influence international public opinion, the US and Britain are also establishing information centers in Washington, London and Pakistan to field questions about the war.
Even senior administration officials concede that the White House was slow to realize the power of al Jazeera as a channel to the Arab world, and that it lost valuable time in the early days of the war by not pushing its message to the satellite channel.
That has changed. Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, Rumsfeld, General Myers and Powell have all given interviews to al Jazeera. Powell also recently gave an interview to al Hayat, an Arabic-language newspaper in London. Senior State Department officials also speak regularly by video conference call with Arab journalists based in London.
Tactical shift
But those interviews are set-piece exercises. An important tactical shift occurred on Saturday after the administration learned that bin Laden had made another tape available to al Jazeera. Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said yesterday that the administration quickly arranged for Christopher Ross, a former American ambassador to Syria who is fluent in Arabic, to go on al Jazeera and read a statement in response.
Even so, the administration has struggled with finding Arab and non-Arab Islamic allies to speak to the region on America's behalf.
"This is a war against terror, and not against Islam," a senior military officer said. "We need to have Islamic voices saying that."
For all of its public relations efforts, however, the administration is involved in an uphill battle with much of Islamic public opinion, including opinion inside Afghanistan.
Yesterday the Voice of America began broadcasts into Afghanistan citing seventh-century battles by the Prophet Muhammad to argue that Islamic armies have conducted attacks during Ramadan. "As President George W. Bush put it," the broadcast said, "the enemy won't rest during Ramadan, and neither will we."
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