Envoy tells AP State Dept. reworking image

Wed Jun 7, 7:37 AM ET

MARRAKECH, Morocco - A top envoy aiming to improve America's image among Muslims says the United States has begun an effort to make its diplomats more visible in the world's media, particularly those that can spread U.S. views in Arab countries.

Karen Hughes, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, described in an Associated Press interview Tuesday the difficulties she faces in getting out the message.

The State Department for years focused on "quiet little government-to-government messages," she said, suggesting that the United States has room to improve in public relations.

That's now changed, Hughes said. "The purpose of our ambassadors and our foreign service officers is to be out interacting with the media to be communicating with the public about America's policies and values and actions," she said.

"We are working to try to change the entire culture of the State Department," Hughes said.

This summer, the U.S. government will set up a media center in the United Arab Emirates from which Arab-speaking U.S. officials will appear on Arab television networks, she said.

Hughes was in Marrakech as part of a four-day visit to Morocco. The North African kingdom is an ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, but many Moroccans resent the war in Iraq and perceived U.S. favoritism of Israel.

During the trip, she has met with Morocco's foreign minister, women's groups and non-governmental organizations that work on behalf of children and other humanitarian causes.

Hughes, who was for years a top adviser to President Bush, took office in September and embarked on a charm offensive to reshape impressions of the United States.

She has faced a gargantuan task, with many Muslims angry over alleged U.S. mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the detention of hundreds of alleged terror suspects without charge at the U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The United States' image as overwhelmingly pro-Israel has overshadowed the United States' role as the leading donor to Palestinians, Hughes said. "It's a long process, I concede that," she said, when asked about how the United States would overcome that perception of favoring Israel.

Just as many Americans are concerned about their image being tarnished by few wrongdoers, such as those behind the abuse at Abu Ghraib, so do many Moroccans fear that they could be viewed as terrorists, she said.

"Moroccans don't want to be identified by the acts of a few people who engage in acts of terror - as they did here in Casablanca in 2003 - any more than Americans want to be identified by the acts of a few who engage in criminal acts in places like Abu Ghraib," she said, referring to deadly terror bombings in Morocco's largest city that killed 33 people in May 2003.

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