US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes was sent by President George W. Bush on a three nation tour to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey in September to repair the US image overseas and reinvigorate the campaign for hearts and minds.
Dear Ms. Karen Hughes: So you have found out for yourself that Arab women you met in Egypt and Saudi Arabia are just as sophisticated as you are, just as educated - or better, and speak more languages than you. You've also discovered that their immediate concern is not really to drive or not, to vote or not, to cover their heads and bodies or not - but for you and America to understand them better.
The women you met in Turkey were even more vocal than Arab women - they touched directly on political issues such as how much the war in Iraq angers them. Maybe they were more open in Turkey because they have free, unrestricted, and unscripted elections there.
You see, Ms. Hughes, there is a problem with an official fact-finding mission to the Arab World. You are meeting the very officials that many Arabs consider, to say the least, undemocratic. These officials are a major part of what is wrong with the Arab World. A simple Arab housewife finds it difficult to grasp how you can be talking about freedom and women's right to vote.
As you know very well, Ms Hughes, in many Arab nations journalists, academics, and average people are imprisoned and tortured if they call for genuinely free elections and freedom of expression. This same simple housewife sees US support for undemocratic regimes, while the US government preaches freedom. This is certainly a double standard - if not out-right schizophrenia.
I found out for myself by traveling there and interviewing average, ordinary people that most Arabs do not hate individual Americans. As yet, they do not hold any of us guilty for what our government has been doing in our name for so many decades. I am sure that on your trip you got tired of hearing about the suffering of the Palestinian women and their need for freedom and dignity. But Ms. Hughes, the future of Palestine matters very much to Arabs. It also matters to Muslims and to any human being with an ounce of passion for humanity, justice, and legality.
I think that you do not have anything against the Palestinians personally. You might even have enjoyed meeting them very much - had you included them in your call for liberation and democratization. On the other hand, Saudi women were a bit miffed when you tried to tell them that they needed the right to drive. What will they do with their chauffeurs?
However, had you tried this line on Palestinian women, they might have jumped on the idea. You see, they often die at Israeli military checkpoints trying to reach hospitals on foot. Alas, your itinerary excluded the very cause of Arab and Muslim anger at US foreign policy - the plight of the Palestinians. I'm sorry, Ms. Hughes, but the millions of dollars in American taxes used to sponsor TV and radio stations beaming into the Arab World will not make this fact go away in the psyche of an Arab. Trust me - I know firsthand.
Your intentions may be sincere, but you will fail miserably just like your predecessors. Arab nations need to change in many ways, but the people need to do it themselves, from within. That's what they told me. Many Arabs do not mind our help, but almost all reject being awakened by the Bush administration's tactics of shock and awe.
We Americans also need to awaken before we all contribute to a missed opportunity to start a genuine dialogue with over 300 million people in 22 Arab nations.
Samar Dahmash Jarrah is an American Arab author living in Florida, USA. Her recently published book, "Arab Voices Speak to American Hearts," features at www.arabvoicesspeak.com
Viewpoint: Letter to Karen Hughes
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