Joint Chiefs Of Staff Chairman: US Is Bungling Muslim Outreach

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is bungling its outreach to the Muslim world and squandering good will by failing to live up to its promises, the nation's highest-ranking military officer wrote Friday.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there is too much emphasis on telling the U.S. story and not enough on building trust and credibility.

"We hurt ourselves and the message we are trying to send when it appears we are doing something merely for the credit," Mullen wrote in an essay published in a military journal. "We hurt ourselves more when our words don't align with our actions."

Mullen said he dislikes the military's focus on "strategic communications," which he said has become a cottage industry where the shaping of a message eclipses what that message says.

"Most strategic communication problems are not communicatons problems at all," Mullen wrote. "They are policy and execution problems."

Efforts to reach out to the Middle East and elsewhere in the Muslim world is a main priority of the vast communications and public relations machinery of the Defense Department. Mullen suggested that much of the effort is wasted, or at least misdirected.

Public opinion in the Muslim world would seem to bear him out.

A survey of two dozen nations conducted this spring found that positive public attitudes toward the United States have surged in many parts of the world since President Barack Obama's election, but not in most of the Arab and Muslim world.

The poll registered continuing levels of profound distrust about U.S. influence and motives among Muslims, particularly in Turkey, Pakistan and the Palestinian territories. There, the report from the nonpartisan Pew Research Center said, animosity toward the United States "continues to run deep and unabated."

U.S. intelligence considers Pakistan, a nuclear-armed Muslim country that Mullen has made a priority with nearly a dozen visits over the past 18 months, among the most profoundly anti-American places on Earth.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates frequently remarks that the United States has let itself be "out-communicated by men living in caves," a wry reference to the skill with which al-Qaida uses the Internet to distribute its messages and capitalize on U.S. failings.

Mullen noted one of those failings, the abuse of Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison, but he said the problem isn't the skill of the communicators.

"Our biggest problem isn't caves, it's credibility," Mullen wrote in the Joint Force Quarterly. "Our messages lack credibility because we haven't invested enough in building trust and relationships, and we haven't always delivered on promises."

On the Net:

http://www.ndu.edu/inss/Press/NDUPress(underscore)JFQ(underscore)List.htm

Comments

[Nakona]

03:48 PM on 08/29/2009

Why are we even pretending we care about the Afghan people? That is the whole problem, everyone in the world knows it's a charade. Our interests in Afghanistan has NEVER been about the people.

We backed the Mujaheddin with guns to defeat the Soviets and then dumped them afterward and let the country spin out of control.

We come back because Bush/Cheney broker a pipeline deal thru Afghanistan to distribute Caspian reserve oil with the children of the Mujahaddin, who now call themselves the Taliban.

The deal falls through - we occupy the country and effect a regime change.

As usual, the only people they are trying to convince are the American people, because absolutely NO ONE else is buying this crap. The fact that they are Muslims is just an inconvenience that adds a dimension that they are unable to cope with.

[Sinick]

12:56 PM on 08/29/2009

Why am I not surprised that 18 y/o Americans indoctrinated into the American military system are incapable of empathic outreach to anybody, much less Muslims?

From where I sit, I see an upstart nation of outcast Puritans trying to force their lifestyle on the rest of the world through economic and military might. If you were a citizen of any other country, what is there to like or to emulate? A country ruled by the oil oligarthy? A country ruled by big business and big finance? A country with the largest disparity between "haves" and "have-nots" in the history of civilization? The richest country in the world that is the the throes of squabbling about who deserves health care?

The bottom line is that we want them to respect a country that personifies hypocrisy. We want to force them to adhere to principles that we ourselves are incapable of upholding.

[ModernTimes1]

02:38 PM on 08/29/2009

Dude, you should be attending some kind of Ji.hadist rally. Just print and scream out. Just add a few random All.ahAkbars around and you set to go.

[OliverTwist]

10:16 AM on 08/29/2009

A clear statement rejecting any US involvement in any Crusade now or in the furture and punishment for any officers who speak otherwise would be a help.

[biabouman41]

10:07 AM on 08/29/2009

I keep wondering why is it that after 7 years of being in Afghanistan the US is unable to influence Afghan women to abandon the Taliban. Women and the Taliban seem to be a bad fit , but we have made no headway there. I would have to assume no one has paid close enough attention to the issue of how to win hearts and minds of the Afghan. We appear to be completely surprised by their resistance to our ideas. I suspect we do not understand theirs. That has got to be the first step. We must understand what are the hopes and wishes are of their society and understand how the Taliban is and is not responding to those. 7 years is a long time.
In the end though what we must be focused on is the degradation of Alqueda. We can not solve their problems if they are not willing participants.

[Ianmac37]

09:07 AM on 08/29/2009

We are bungling the outreach because we do not understand what the conflict is all about and who, exactly, are the combatants.

George W. Bush thought he was fighting a “War on Terror.”

Osama bin Laden thinks the West is fighting a war on Islam.

They are both wrong. The US is no more fighting a war on terror than World War II was a “War on Blitzkrieg.” Terror is a tactic not an organization or a cause. The West is fielding an army unable to focus on the real conflict. The “terrorists,” Al Qaeda or the Taliban, have no equivalent true military force and they, too, misunderstand the nature of the conflict. They are people who are true conservative believers in Islam and are simply convinced they are resisting forced changes in their religion and society. They use criminal methods and are supported by strictly conservative Islamic religious leaders and spokesmen. The “war” cannot be ended until Islam faces up to the fact that it is out of step with the times.

Once again we in the United States fail to see the true nature of a worldwide conflict and that failure will lead to an ineffective response. The warfare is not because some mythical group of terrorists have decided that they do not like the lifestyle of Americans or Europeans. The real conflict is between conservative and liberal Muslims. Unless we realize that and act accordingly, we will waste our efforts and solve nothing.

[hotwire]

09:33 AM on 08/29/2009

Ok, you told us what Bush and Bin Laden thought they were fighting for and you state that they are both wrong. Could you use your "expertise" and tell us why Obama is continuing the battle? You conveniently left him out of the equation.

[Kasado]

09:01 AM on 08/29/2009

You cannot build empathy and trust when you put condition upon them. And you certainly cannnot buy them.

[Wiseronenow]

08:53 AM on 08/29/2009

Ok, so what's Mullen's real angle in stating this? Seems he has forgotten his own statement:

"This is the sort of advice and counsel you might find yourself delivering one day to a future President or Secretary of Defense. When you do, make sure it your best, most independent military opinion—neither constrained nor contaminated by personal politics. Part of the deal we made when we joined up was to willingly subordinate our individual interests to the greater good of protecting national interests. The military as an institution must remain a neutral instrument of the state, no matter which party holds sway. We give our best advice beforehand. If it's followed, great. If it's not, we have only two choices. Obey the orders we have been given, carrying them out with the professionalism and loyalty they deserve or vote with our feet. That's it. We don't get to debate those orders after the fact. We don't get to say, "Well, it's not how I would have done it," or "If only they had listened to ME." Too late at that point … and too cowardly. Few things are more damaging to our democracy than a military officer who doesn't have the moral courage to stand up for what's right or the moral fiber to step aside when circumstances dictate." (USNA Commencement Address, 23 May 2008 in Annapolis, MD)[3]

[blisster]

08:45 AM on 08/29/2009

When you have misguided bombs blowing up innocent civilians and a govt funded christian mercenery outfit dispensing "protection" it's hard to convince the Muslim world we are warring in their best intrest.
Even with all the day to day good the troops are doing in these areas. It's tough to achieve that balance.
Like trying to send a tank across a tight rope.

[ModernTimes1]

08:57 AM on 08/29/2009

"it's hard to convince the Muslim world we are warring in their best intrest. "

It is not question of convincing anyone. Muslims,are brought up on the idea of superiority of their religious culture cannot be convinced anyway. They should be simply given Western perspective on whats going on/ Without the florid prose and iffy relationship to facts so common to Islamic mews sources.
But it is important to avoid rigmarole about democracy and benevolence of U.S.
The West is in the East to expand and protect its interests and safeguard the flow of capital. And the East in in the West to do the same for itself. This is reality.
But jst becuase Islamic civilization is in decline doesn't make it right.

Automatic virtue of the weak is even bigger nonsense then the automatic evilness of the strong.

[blisster]

09:09 AM on 08/29/2009

Individual logic versus collective logic which is more powerful?

Kind of like sports teams The Christians are up three games over the Muslims in the AL East. That's tribal logic.

[ChristopherAtom]

08:42 AM on 08/29/2009

Who'd of thought that shooting at someone would make them mad at you. Gosh I just don't understand what their problem is? We should stop using love bullets and cupcake bombs to win hearts and minds and start putting bullets of hate and death in their hearts and minds.

[kurtvb]

08:24 AM on 08/29/2009

The worst part in all of this is that the policy makers, i.e. the politicians, are the ones that decide what and how we communicate to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, it is our military that must take the brunt of our ill conceived policy as The symbol of the United States abroad. If, like in Iraq and Afghanistan, our intention is to rebuild those countries, the the majority of the effort should be through the State Department and it sub-agencies, with minimal support from the military. Militaries are for fighting wars, not nation building. Hopefully Obama will listen to his CJCS.

[dl63]

07:40 AM on 08/29/2009

It's no surprise that Al Queda's message is more warmly received. Just look at the lies that are warmly received in the USA pumped by our own terrorists: Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, et al. Why do their lies have more weight for many than the truth? When we figur that out, perhaps we can communicate better with the muslim world as the problems are identical.

[Nakona]

07:24 AM on 08/29/2009

EXCLUSIVE…Pentagon Pundits: New York Times Reporter David Barstow Wins Pulitzer Prize for Exposing Military’s Pro-War Propaganda Media Campaign
Pundits-double-web

In his first national broadcast interview, New York Times reporter David Barstow speaks about his 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning expose of the Pentagon propaganda campaign to recruit more than seventy-five retired military officers to appear on TV outlets as military analysts ahead of and during the Iraq war. This week, the Pentagon inspector general’s office admitted its exoneration of the program was flawed and withdrew it.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/8/pentagons_pundits_ny_times_reporter_david

[Nakona]

07:20 AM on 08/29/2009

The US is constantly preoccupied with shaping perceptions, projecting messages/themes simply because the truth of what we do is riddled with falsehoods and lies.

If we would just do what is right, the truth would speak for itself.

[canuck99]

07:52 AM on 08/29/2009

Unfortunately, the consuming public does not process this perception critically and end up believing all the lies. Critical thinking involves screening perceptions through a "value" filter, so I guess there's something wrong with existing values if people believed those lies.

[OliverTwist]

07:14 AM on 08/29/2009

Adm. Mike Mullen is making sense.

Actions speak louder than words.

The most important thing we can do to make others more concerned about our welfare is to act to further their welfare - a very reasonable thing to do.

It would be worthwhile if instead of droning on and on about the instances of terrorism perpetrated by a few we took note of the regular instances of the good practiced by many.

Then we should consider our own actions. What are we doing? Who are we helping if anyone? Do they agree?

[jaschrod]

06:53 AM on 08/29/2009

Glad to see the Adm. has recognized this. A little late though. A promise we made to the King of Saudi Arabia about removing our troops from Mecca and Medina after Desert Storm was not kept, leading up to the 9/11 bombing. We were told that our troops would have to be removed from these areas, because they are Muslim Holy Places. With all of our arrogant ignorance, we failed to do so.