Now, who's going to tell the king?

A harshly critical report by a Pentagon advisory panel [pdf] says the United States is failing in its efforts to explain the nation's diplomatic and military actions to the Muslim world, but it warns that no public relations plan or information operation can defend America from flawed policies.

The Defense Science Board report, which has not been released to the public, says the nation's institutions charged with "strategic communication" are broken, and calls for a comprehensive reorganization of government public affairs, public diplomacy and information efforts.

"America's negative image in world opinion and diminished ability to persuade are consequences of factors other than the failure to implement communications strategies," says the 102-page report, completed in September.

NY Times article

Don't tell the Oaf of Office. He'll get real sore. And who's in charge of all the ridiculous PR attempts in Iraq? Wasn't it Condi that suggested we need better PR? Or was that one of our stupid, Worthless Commission recommendations? Ah yes, that's it. Now I remember. It was those two nutballs from the 9/11 commission (Gorelich and Keane) sitting up there spouting about how we do so much good in the world, but we're just not getting the message out. (Anybody have any transcript links for that? I'm pretty sure it was those two after the report came out giving their joint assinine whitewash to the press.) Somebody should have slapped them where they sat. If we're doing so damned much good, it ought to be obvious and not need PR. How stupid can we get? It's the Wal-Mart plan.

Keane and Gorelich both have ties to a Saudi Prince being sued by 600 families of the victims on 9/11. Neither should be on the committee. source

"Today we reflexively compare Muslim 'masses' to those oppressed under Soviet rule," the report adds. "This is a strategic mistake. There is no yearning-to-be-liberated- by-the-U.S. groundswell among Muslim societies - except to be liberated perhaps from what they see as apostate tyrannies that the U.S. so determinedly promotes and defends."

The report says that "Muslims do not 'hate our freedom,' but rather they hate our policies," adding that "when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy."

[...]

The report also says: "The critical problem in American public diplomacy directed toward the Muslim world is not one of 'dissemination of information' or even one of crafting and delivering the 'right' message. Rather it is a fundamental problem of credibility. Simply, there is none...

Larry Di Rita, the Pentagon spokesman, said the report had elevated the debate within the Defense Department, but he said no formal decisions had been made about reorganizing how the Pentagon and military communicate.

"We're wrestling with this," Mr. Di Rita said. "But it doesn't change the underlying principle, at least with respect to the Department of Defense. Our job is to put out information to the public that is accurate, and to put it out as quickly as we can."

I'd say the Pentagon is about to get a house cleaning a la the CIA purge, and Larry Di Rita is standing mighty close to the dust bin.