Free Republic

WASHINGTON, 22 July 2005 — Middle Easterners prepare yourselves to be wooed, because the US State Department is about to launch a genuine charm offensive in your direction. The Bush Administration wants to improve its image abroad, especially among Arabs and Muslims, as they realize their status has gone south since the US invasion in Iraq. To help achieve their goal, they are bringing trusted aids back into service and appointing Arab Americans to key positions. Former White House counselor Karen Hughes will face confirmation hearings today by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to become the new Undersecretary of State...

The connection was obvious to senators of both parties, though nobody said so publicly. Four days before Sen. Joseph Biden declared he would seek the Democratic presidential nomination if he could find the financing, he held hostage an important, non-controversial Bush diplomatic appointee. His intent: to force President Bush to reappoint a billionaire backer of Biden to a government oversight board. Nobody expected Biden's move when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee convened last Wednesday to send routine nominations to the floor. Biden, the committee's ranking Democrat, blocked Senate consideration of White House personnel director Dina Habib Powell as the State...

NEW YORK-(Dow Jones)-U.S. President George W. Bush's nominee for a top diplomacy job was blocked by Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., Wednesday in a spat over a White House delay in reappointing a Democratic figure to a board overseeing U.S. international broadcasting efforts, the New York Times reported in its Thursday edition. Biden, in a meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as ranking Democrat objected to the appointment Dina Powell as Bush's choice to become deputy under secretary of State for public diplomacy. Powell serves as White House personnel director. Democratic sources told the Times that Biden's objection to Powell...

Opening a new battle with the White House, Senate Democrats on Wednesday abruptly blocked the approval of President Bush's nominee for a top public diplomacy job, charging that the administration had injected partisan politics into the drive to improve the United States' image overseas. The nominee, Dina Powell, the White House personnel director, had been expected to win broad approval to become deputy under secretary of state for public diplomacy, to be the second-in-command to Karen P. Hughes in charge of repairing the United States' reputation, especially in the Muslim world. But in what was to have been a routine...

President Bush's appointment of Karen Hughes and Dina Powell to the two top communications jobs in the State Department tells us this: He recognizes that perception is as important as reality -- not just in domestic politics but also in the most critical area of foreign policy, the “War of Ideas” against terrorism and the ideologies that drive it. Hughes is Bush's confidante, a former journalist who has long helped him communicate more effectively with the audience that most matters to any politician: voters.Powell is 31, Egyptian-born, Arabic-speaking, charming, brainy and beautiful. The fact that she could come to America...

President Bush's appointment of Karen Hughes and Dina Powell to the two top communications jobs in the State Department tells us this: He recognizes that perception is as important as reality — not just in domestic politics but also in the most critical area of foreign policy, the “War of Ideas” against terrorism and the ideologies that drive it. Hughes is Bush's confidante, a former journalist who has long helped him communicate more effectively with the audience that most matters to any politician: voters. Powell is 31, Egyptian-born, Arabic-speaking, charming, brainy and beautiful. The fact that she could come to...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dina Powell, an American of Egyptian descent who speaks fluent Arabic, will be named to a top State Department public diplomacy job Monday as the White House seeks to improve its image in the Arab world, U.S. officials said. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will announce the choice of Powell, head of personnel at the White House, to be assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs and deputy under secretary of state for public diplomacy at noon, the officials said. Powell, who came to the United States from Egypt as a child, will serve as...