HOME	Where the World's Views of America Come into Focus

By Dawood Al Shirian

May 13, 2005

Original Article (English)

The Syrian government has signed an agreement with New Bridge Strategies to improve its image within American society, and to convince President Bush that it seeks good relations with his administration and is willing to be extremely flexible in cooperating with the White House. The company was selected specifically because  its CEO {Joe Allbaugh} has close ties with Bush.

Allbaugh was Bush’s Chief of Staff and campaign manager when George W. was Governor of Texas. He managed his 2000 campaign and later became director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in charge of coordinating  public services and providing assistance to victims of natural disasters.

The public relations campaigns that some nations resort to in order to improve their image have failed miserably on more than one occasion. The most obvious example is the American government's campaign in the Arab and Islamic worlds.

The campaigns rely on the art of advertising, which is based on promising; the "big promise" as Dr. Samuel Johnson says. At best, advertising is inaccurate. In addition, these campaigns target the public, which lacks power in the political decision making process.

Most importantly, these campaigns are based on refuting one image and inserting another. In the absence of such an image based in whole or in part on reality, these campaigns lead to the opposite result – which is exactly what happened in the American campaign. The campaign was   refuted due to Washington’s biased Middle East policy. In Syria's case, it won’t be much different, because the promises that will be made by the campaign will be groundless.

It is so strange that some Arab regimes ignore the fact that gaining the favor of their own people is the easiest way to gain the favor of others. The new Syria can only improve its image by prevailing over the old Syria, by pushing through radical change like its withdrawal from Lebanon,  and by using people power as a shield.

Damascus does not suffer from a communication breakdown with Washington or any Western capitals, it suffers from the legacy of a bygone political era. It is true that "lobbying" plays a role in influencing U.S. policy, and maybe this company was well selected, since its owners are influential in the U.S.

In Syria’s case, however, lobbying will be useless, because there are fundamental differences between the two parties, the most prominent divergences being Syria’s stance on Iraq; Damascus' relations with Lebanon; its trifling attitude regarding a complete withdrawal from the life of the Lebanese people; and the absence of political reform, which Washington is using as a pretext to blackmail the region's regimes and achieve its goals.

If the image makeover contract Syria signed with the U.S. PR firm were to work, it would cost billions of dollars. The Syrian government would be better advised to invest the money within Syria itself.

However, Damascus will have a hard time arriving at this conclusion, since the regime believes that its problems are based on nothing more than some false impressions. It has persuaded itself that its salvation depends on escaping U.S. and international pressure, not on meeting popular demands and implementing internal reforms, and that all it needs is an advertising campaign to promote his image just like any other product on the market!

Rather than resort to political advertising, which has failed Syria for decades,  Syrian politicians should have learned from Turkey, which was able to withstand U.S. demands and pressure during and after the U.S. campaign against Iraq because its decision making process is based on an elected Parliament, not to a ruling party. Turkey was also able to deal on a par with Washington in the issues of military facilities. Washington never even thought of blackmailing the Turks with their democratic-reform scarecrow, as it has with opposing Arab countries, because these countries are not close to their people. Syria could protect its position  by following the Turkish model and launching a campaign of real reform to win over the Syrian street, which in turn, would protect the regime and defend the State's international reputation. Otherwise, even if it spends all the treasure of Midas on futile advertising campaigns, Damascus will remain part of the "axis of evil" to Washington.