A Failure to Communicate

President Bush’s choice of media Wednesday to condemn the U.S. abuse of Iraqi prisoners was almost as important as the message itself: He spoke to Al Arabiya, the Arabic-language satellite television channel that broadcasts throughout the Middle East. The Bush administration often criticizes the Dubai-based broadcaster and the other main Arabic television outlet, the satellite channel Al Jazeera, based in Qatar. But choosing Al Arabiya demonstrated a realization that Arab-financed, Middle East-based broadcasts are the ones Arabs watch.

Bush also gave a White House interview to Al Hurra, a U.S.-financed fledgling network that transmits its signal from Virginia. But that was for appearance, not effect. Al Hurra, Arabic for “the Free One,” has inadvertently shown the inadequacy of Washington’s attempts to tell its part of the story in the Middle East.

Sheik Hamad Jassim ibn Jaber al Thani, Qatar’s foreign minister, told Times editorial writers this week that Secretary of State Colin L. Powell lectured him at the State Department last week, charging that Al Jazeera foments anti-American violence in Iraq. Hamad Jassim said Arab governments, known for muzzling the media and jailing their critics, also periodically criticized Al Jazeera, but he defended the broadcaster as trying to report on events, not influence them.

Hamad Jassim laughed about Al Hurra’s ineffectiveness, saying the network “showed how to make salads and bake cookies” last month while the Arab broadcasters rolled tape on U.S. troops fighting Iraqis in Fallouja. The few Arabs who know of Al Hurra call it boring.

Bush’s message, that the torture was “abhorrent” and not representative of Americans, was noteworthy for being directed at an Arab audience. It will not, however, undo the harm done by the terrible pictures at Abu Ghraib prison. Perhaps nothing could, but the rarity of U.S. efforts at such direct communication is part of the problem.

The U.S. has in recent years done a poor job of explaining its policies and accomplishments, whether through broadcasters, libraries or extensive efforts by U.S. embassies. Increased security at U.S. facilities overseas is partly to blame, but the revolving door at the State Department’s public diplomacy office makes matters worse. Veteran diplomat Margaret Tutwiler resigned as the public diplomacy chief last week after only 4 1/2 months. At least she didn’t have to try to explain why the military kept the severity of the torture incidents to itself for months, even withholding its investigation from Congress.

It is impossible to think of words or actions that could overcome the damage of the Abu Ghraib scandal in the Arab world. But unless the U.S. does a more thorough and imaginative job of presenting itself in the future, it risks letting its enemies provide the explanations.