Wednesday, May 02, 2007

"Powell, as assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs and deputy to Undersecretary of State Karen P. Hughes, played a critical role in the administration's efforts to bolster public diplomacy in the face of the wave of anti-Americanism that has swept the Arab world since the U.S. invasion of Iraq." Oh. So now I know who was behind the dramatic change in Arab and Muslim public opinion toward the US. All along: I credited the woman who wears the Persian carpet on her head. And then the article says: "Rice pointed especially to Powell's creation of public-private partnerships, which brought corporations together with the government to assist other countries, such as in Lebanon. The U.S.-Lebanon partnership, formed after the Israeli-Hezbollah war last summer that stirred anger against the United States, is led by a group of corporate executives who traveled to Lebanon with Powell to promote initiatives to create jobs and rebuild homes." Let me tell you: this "initiative" did not produce one job, and did not rebuild one home.