The White House on Tuesday set up an office devoted to polishing the US' reputation in a world where many are irked by President George W. Bush's policies and sense a cavalier American attitude toward global suffering.
The White House revealed the existence of its Office on Global Communications just as a prestigious US institute, the Council on Foreign Relations, urged Bush to fix "America's shaky image abroad."
"Around the world, from Western Europe to the Far East, many see the United States as arrogant, hypocritical, self-absorbed, self-indulgent and contemptuous of others," the council's task force said in a report. "We must come to understand and accept that `image problems' and `foreign policy' are not things apart: They are both part of an integrated whole."
The panel stressed, however, that Bush should not change his policies simply to make America more popular.
"We should communicate them, even formulate them in such a way as to get as much support as we can," said task force member Henry Grunwald, former editor in chief of Time magazine and later US ambassador to Austria. "Even the largest empires in history have needed support from other people."
The new office sprang from an earlier information campaign to build support for the fight against terrorism. A senior White House adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the office would quickly spread Bush's message to "hot spots" worldwide and, in the long term, give international media reports the same scrutiny now paid to those by US media.
"We hear messages from other nations that they don't see what the American people see in our country," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. "It's important to share information, to listen to other countries and to provide that information so they can listen to us."
But it was clear that Bush's policies, both before and after the Sept. 11 attacks, had done much to foment hard feelings overseas.
His administration disavowed international pacts on global warming, missile-defense systems, germ warfare and an international criminal court. He has angered many allies by threatening war against Iraq, slapping high tariffs on steel imports and pulling back US$34 million from a UN family planning fund.
University of Maryland professor Shibley Telhami said surveys of world attitudes show a widespread belief that "the United States does not project empathy toward the suffering and pain of others," particularly when it comes to Arab-Israeli relations.
"There are many, many issues as to why people are resentful. One is policy, and ... the perception that America is too pro-Israel," Telhami said.
Even King Abdullah of Jordan noted in a speech on Tuesday in Colorado: "I must tell you that Arab trust of US influence remains rather low."
Representative Henry Hyde, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, said the image problem has festered for decades and the Bush administration is not to blame.
"The images of mindless hatred directed at us have appeared on our television screens with a sickening regularity," Hyde said. "All this time, we have heard calls that `something must be done.' But, clearly, whatever has been done has not been enough."
Fleischer said the new office would coordinate with ongoing public diplomacy efforts at the State Department.
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