International

The British government is setting up a new "Department of Truth" in an effort to end damaging publicity about the role of politically appointed "spin-doctors." The rumored brain behind this strategy, however, is Peter Mandelson, the former Labour Party communications director who is credited with being the first of the new wave of spin-doctors when he worked for the party in the 1980s. "He is the one advising Tony Blair," said a government insider. "The King of Spin is in charge of the death of spin."

The State Department has issued a request for proposals for "an advertising campaign targeting Arab-language media on the web with the goal of explaining U.S. policy in the Middle East," O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. "As part of that work, State also wants to pitch its 'Rebuilding Afghanistan' Arabic site to show that 'the U.S. follows through with its obligations and promises,' according to a copy of the proposal.

After much speculation, Ambassador to Morocco Margaret Tutwiler is finally returning to Washington to take Charlotte Beers' old post as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. Ad queen Beers stepped down among much criticisms in March. The Washington Post's Al Kamen writes that Tutwiler, who served as assistant secretary of state for public affairs for the elder Bush, "was most happy with her Morocco assignment -- apparently even with an occasional terrorist bomb going off -- and was said to be ambivalent about coming back.

Just in from the been there, done that department: "With anti-American sentiment rising worldwide, Bush administration officials say they are stepping up efforts to market America throughout the world," reports Michelle Orris. "Polls indicate that international opinion of the United States has plummeted in the last year, and worldwide sympathy for the United States after Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has all but dissipated."