More Alarm at Plummeting U.S. Image

The United States must drastically increase and overhaul its public relations efforts to salvage its plummeting image among Muslims and Arabs abroad, says a panel chosen by the Bush administration. "Hostility toward America has reached shocking levels," states a new report by the United States Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World. The report recommends a new White House office for foreign propaganda. In our book Weapons of Mass Deception we examine the failure of such efforts, which were predicted by observers such as Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News, who two years ago said "the United States lost the public relations war in the Muslim world a long time ago. They could have the prophet Muhammad doing public relations and it wouldn't help."