US Popularity Down Despite Image Campaign

"US popularity has plummeted in the Arab and Muslim world despite a nearly two-year-old State Department campaign to boost the US image, according to a Congress report," the Australian Financial Review reports. "Despite anecdotal claims of success with certain elements of the campaign in some countries, polling data shows the United States is more unpopular and more resented in many Muslim-majority nations than before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the report said." According to the September 4 General Accounting Office report "U.S. Public Diplomacy: State Department Expands Efforts but Faces Significant Challenges," public affairs officers felt they had "insufficient resources" to do their job and that administrative tasks were "burdensome." GAO also found that one fifth of officers assigned overseas lacked the language skills to do their job.