Mind your language
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D7064466
Jun 15th 2006
From The Economist print edition
A little politeness goes a long way
IT SEEMS unfair to single out the hapless Colleen Graffy. America's
deputy assistant secretary for public diplomacy is far from being the
only official in George Bush's administration who has a tin ear when it
comes to-well, to public diplomacy. When three of the Muslim inmates
held for years without trial at Guant=E1namo in Cuba hanged themselves
last weekend, she called this "a good PR move". But she was hardly
alone in sounding callous. The commander of Guant=E1namo, a sensitive
soul, grumbled that by hanging themselves his three charges had
committed an act of "asymmetrical warfare" against the United
States. Plenty more tin ears and sharp tongues belong to bigger heads
higher up in the administration.
Inside the clever head of Donald ("stuff happens") Rumsfeld,
America's defence secretary, for example, wags a tongue that may on its
own be responsible for having needlessly alienated more former friends
of the United States than any other instrument since the invention of
the B-52 bomber. As for John Bolton, America's ambassador to the United
Nations, he appears to take particular pride in ignoring the advice of
the Founding Fathers for America to pay a decent respect to the
opinions of mankind. Mr Bolton is trying to force various management
reforms through the UN's glass palace in New York. Reform is sorely
needed. But instead of using persuasion, Mr Bolton too often plays the
bully. His tone is that America is numero uno, the UN's chief
paymaster, and so must be obeyed. Some potential allies are put off.
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