Got the Big Stick; Need to Learn to Speak Softly

Condoleezza Rice admitted, "We are obviously not very well organized for the side of public diplomacy." The 9/11 Commission warned, "If the United States does not act aggressively to define itself in the Islamic world, the extremists will gladly do the job for us." Former State Department diplomacy head Margaret Tutwiler said, "Public diplomacy need[s] to be seriously prioritized on an equal level with an aircraft carriers." State Department Cultural Affairs head Patricia Harrison described ongoing efforts: "'good news' stories on reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan [for] American and foreign news," an Iraq sister-city program, support for the Iraqi National Symphony, and donating "thousands of wheelchairs to Iraq, Morocco, Jordan, Oman and other areas of the Arab world."