Hughes on mission to change views abroad - and at home

Aug. 7--WASHINGTON -- Karen Hughes looks back on her first few days at the State Department as a worrisome benchmark.

As she began her job as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy nearly a year ago, Israel was pulling out of Gaza. And she was eager to provide fresh guidance on the withdrawal to U.S. ambassadors abroad.

She "spent all day on the computer" and couldn't find the right words, she said. So, she hammered out a few paragraphs about "how we felt about Israel's withdrawal from Gaza," and dispatched them to U.S. ambassadors around the world. And within a few days, requests came rolling in for more of her what-to-say missives.

The message seemed clear, she concluded: Polishing the badly tarnished U.S. image abroad starts with reshaping the State Department's public diplomacy efforts to fit the rapidly changing communications demands of the 21st century.

Ms. Hughes is a communicator, as she described herself in a recent interview in her State Department office. And as President Bush's long-time communications adviser, the former Fort Worth television reporter is no stranger to controversy, hotspots or hardball politics.

But she readily acknowledges that her diplomatic mandate is a new match for her.

Mr. Bush's decision to invade Iraq remains widely unpopular throughout much of the world, where he's often caricatured as a go-it-alone, gun-slinging cowboy from Texas. And the U.S. abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, new charges of rape and murder of Iraqis by American servicemen and the suicides of three detainees at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have fostered even deeper resentment.

"There needs to be a very sustained public message, so that in the battle of ideas, we put out what we're for," said former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who embraced public diplomacy as a new mission in the State Department during the Clinton administration.

Ms. Albright gives Ms. Hughes good marks for listening -- and "not just talking" -- and others salute her energy and effort.

"But it's a hard job," Ms. Albright noted, explaining that Ms. Hughes has had her hands full -- particularly with the war in Iraq and the broader backdrop in which many Muslims throughout the world "feel aggrieved."

"It's all bundled together," Ms. Albright said.

And there have been a few public diplomacy bumps along the way, too.

Setting out with limited diplomatic experience abroad, Ms. Hughes was sometimes tentative on her early stops and continues to encounter sharp dissension over U.S. policy. And there was the well-publicized misstep in June when one of her top aides, Colleen Graffy, the deputy assistant secretary for public diplomacy, told the British Broadcasting Corp. that three Guantanamo suicides had been a "good PR move to draw attention."

"Occasionally, when you are out there talking, you say something you regret," Ms. Hughes said. "And that was the case there."

On nearly every front, Ms. Hughes readily acknowledges that her job is a challenge. And that was before the war in the Middle East turned up the world spotlight on U.S. policy in the region, particularly its unyielding support of Israel.

"People will tell me we disagree with your policy," she said, recalling her first diplomatic tour of the Middle East last year, "and I make the case that we support a Palestinian state."

"Do you disagree with that? Do you want us not to support a Palestinian state?" she said, recalling a frequent response: "Well, no, it's really the way you pursue the policy."

And, recently, as the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict has boiled out of Lebanon, Ms. Hughes has faced tough, new questions about the U.S.-Israeli relationship.

In Kuala Lumpur, for instance, a Radio Television Malaysian correspondent told her bluntly: "The U.S. wants to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim countries throughout the world. ... But what happens now is that, at the same time, it continues to abet and aid this so-called aggression."

Objecting, Ms. Hughes said she "strongly" disagreed, saying the administration was using the "clout of the U.S." to try to negotiate a peaceful endgame.

Still, analysts see Bush administration policy as an enormous burden for Ms. Hughes in many parts of the world as she struggles to promote it and bolster the U.S. image as the same time.

"It's really hard to move the needle on issues that are really policy driven. And they are driven by big things, policies with respect to Israel, our presence in Iraq," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Global Attitudes Project that samples world opinions.

"Putting the best face on this can help," Mr. Kohut said. "But you have to keep your expectations modest."

There is little modest, though, about Ms. Hughes' agenda, or the way she approaches it.

An energetic, enthusiastic advocate for the Bush administration, she can fill a room with just her hearty laugh. And her long tenure in the Bush inner circle enhances her stature as she travels the world.

She follows two other women who held the post during the president's first term -- advertising executive Charlotte Beers, whose overseas television ad campaign was criticized as insensitive and ineffective in the Muslim world, and Margaret Tutwiler, who resigned abruptly to take a top job with the New York Stock Exchange.

Ms. Hughes is staying put, saying only that she'll head home to Austin when it's over.

She is consumed by her job, she said, so much so that she says some of her staff has come to call her "the idea factory."

Her latest idea, she said, is overseas summer camps to teach English.

"The English language is something that we have to offer the world that the world wants," she explained. "Young people around the world realize that English gives them the opportunity for a better life. And parents want that for their children."

She concedes that the war in Iraq has so smudged the U.S. image around the world that "no amount of public diplomacy" is going to matter much in the short term.

"The only thing that is going to change people's minds," she said, is that "in three, four or five years ... they may be able to look and say, 'You know, Iraq is stable, and it is democratic and, maybe, that was the right thing to do after all.' "

In the meantime, she said, she's intent on "changing the culture" of the State Department, to empower ambassadors and others to speak out more often and more forcefully -- even on the Arab television network Al-Jazeera, which the administration has previously scorned.

"The culture here has been one that's been risk-adverse -- keep your head down, deliver messages, government to government. ... Don't speak out because you might get in trouble, or might be criticized," she said.

In Europe, she added, during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, "We weren't engaged. We weren't speaking out about it. We weren't attending conferences. We weren't on the Al-Jazeera. We weren't out there."

So far, Ms. Hughes, who has the rank of ambassador, has appeared several times on Al-Jazeera, despite what she calls "legitimate concerns" that some of its coverage has been inflammatory.

Still, she said, "as a communicator, I feel it's important to get our voice on the channels that people are watching. And Al-Jazeera is the channel that people are watching in the Middle East."

Such moves are admirable, said pollster John Zogby, who has sampled public opinions around the world. But Ms. Hughes will have a tough time making a difference, in part because of the "serious damage" the war in Iraq has inflicted on the U.S. image abroad, he said.

"She's very smart. She's done a lot of homework. She's very personable," Mr. Zogby said. "But it's the policy. And it will be the policy."

E-mail bhillman@dallasnews.com

THE HUGHES AGENDA

Better communications: Improve U.S. government dealings with the rest of the world. Empower ambassadors and others to speak out; improve monitoring of international media and better response to questions and crisis through a new Rapid Response Unit.

Employ new technologies: Better use the Internet, text messaging and even MP3 players.

More money: Expand and better use international exchange programs.

New partnerships: Seek alliances with universities and private corporations to market the U.S. as a higher education destination and offer a friendlier outreach around the world.

Delegitimize terrorism: Make it clear that no grievance can justify the targeting and killing of innocent civilians.

Better coordination: Integrate policy and public diplomacy at the State Department.

SOURCE: Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes at the Council on Foreign Relations

VIEW OF U.S. ABROAD

Favorable views of the United States:

SOURCE: The Pew Global Attitudes Project, March to May 2006 poll

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Dallas Morning News

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