And, yes, I DO take it personally: Ignoring public diplomacy in the Muslim world or talking out of only one side of your mouth

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And, yes, I DO take it personally

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Ignoring public diplomacy in the Muslim world or talking out of only one side of your mouth

spreading hypocrisy around the world...

Bush has all along made the mistake of playing to Muslim leaders rather than to Muslim publics. Yet he has at the same time undermined authoritarian leaders with his talk of spreading democracy. So a military dictator like Pervez Musharraf, who intervened to corrupt the 2002 Pakistani parliamentary elections, lacks legitimacy according to Bush's rhetoric even as Bush pals around with him and makes him as an individual the cornerstone of US policy in that part of the world.

Meantime, Bush has had a predator missile fired on a Pakistani village, and has been complaisant toward US torture of Muslim prisoners at Bagram and in Iraq.

The PR disaster of the Pakistan trip is a decisive and sad reflection on the complete failure of Bush at public diplomacy in the Muslim world, at a time when nothing is more important to US security and goals abroad.

and we wonder why they hate us...

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