Mutual misconceptions: Arabs need a lot more public diplomacy in the U.S. - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune

By James Zogby

July 5, 2006

WASHINGTON — Current debates in the United States over the many aspects of Middle East policy point to a disturbing reality: Americans do not know the Arab world, its people or its culture.

This is why U.S. political discussions of Middle East issues are so wildly off base, why the American public has been so accepting of bad policy decisions, and why Washington continues to act in ways that alienate the Arab world from the United States.

Recognizing this growing gap, the Bush administration and some think tanks propose "public diplomacy" initiatives.

While there is no doubt that most Arabs do not understand America and its complex political and social culture, the more pressing need, I believe, is for the United States to understand the Arab world.

The state of affairs is disturbing, given the deep ties that bind the United States to this critical region.

First and foremost are the human connections. Over one million American men and women have fought in the Middle East; over 100,000 Americans live and work throughout the Middle East and Arab Gulf states, and hundreds of thousands more come each year as tourists and visitors.

Arabs, too, have a long history in the United States. More than 3 million Americans are of Arab descent. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs have come to the United States to study (a significant percentage of cabinet ministers in the Gulf received their education in the United States), and millions of others have come to visit or do business with American partners.

These are only some of the ties that bind us. There are also the mutually beneficial economic interests. American companies are the largest source of investment in many Arab countries and the United States, in turn, is the recipient of most Arab foreign investment.

It is also a fact that since the end of the Vietnam war, the United States has spent more foreign aid, sold more weapons, sent more troops, fought more wars, lost more lives and invested more political and diplomatic capital in the Middle East than anywhere else.

Yet all of this has been done without any real understanding of the region and its needs. The sad fact is that for most Americans the Middle East didn't matter until 9/11.

Then, out of their anger and fear, Americans began to ask questions. But the problem was only compounded by those who were called upon by the media to provide the answers: analysts - who at first didn't know the difference between Iran and Iraq; commentators and "experts" with a long history of anti-Arab bias; reporters, many of whom covered the region with no understanding of its history or culture, and politicians, who exploited the public's fear and anger for their own advantage.

The tragic result was that negative stereotypes were recycled and conventional wisdom was presented as reality. Real damage was done.

It was in this context that the administration was able to say that an invasion of Iraq would bring democracy to the Middle East, or that the reason the United States has a problem in the Arab world is because there weren't enough democracies in the region, or that extremists hate the United States because American stands for freedom.

It was ignorance of the Arab world and the needs and aspirations of the Arab people that first got the United States into a hole in the Middle East. More bad policy, driven by a distorted understanding of the region, is making the hole deeper.

Moralizing about this sad situation won't change anything. Some Arab leaders have now recognized the dangers inherent in this situation. They understand the importance of the ties that bind the Arab and American people.

But too little has been done to actually create change in the current negative dynamic. Some Arabs have begun to invest in programs to educate Americans about the Arab world and Islam. Some have sought to directly engage American elites and opinion makers in an effort to change opinion. But it is still not enough.

If the need to educate U.S. thinking and policy is as great as I believe it is, the Arab world must do more. The politics of America preclude change without a strong push from the outside.

Arab leaders must undertake their own massive public-diplomacy campaign in the United States. Such efforts were discussed shortly after 9/11. As the continued deterioration on the Israeli-Palestinian and Iraqi fronts and the disturbing debates over the Dubai Ports World make clear, the situation, left untended, can only grow worse.

Source : https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/opinion/05iht-edzogby.2123273.html?searchResultPosition=6