The Foreign Service Journal, October 2006

mined trust in America’s veracity. Despite the firestorm of criticism that broke out when the public learned that the Pentagon-funded Lincoln Group was paying Iraqi journalists to plant American-written pieces favorable to the U.S. under their own bylines, such psy-ops continue to eat away at our credibility. Under these circumstances the people who would be our natural allies have no reason to trust us. We there- by lose the friends that honest PD would garner. Making Friends in Tough Neighborhoods The Cold War showed the U.S. how to make hay when the sun wasn’t shining. Working smart, working indirectly and by example as much as exhortation in Iron Curtain countries, the U.S. was able to influence and strengthen the resolve of people seeking democra- cy and its corresponding freedom of speech, thought and religion. As a result, much to Russia’s dismay, most of the old Eastern Bloc is joining the European Union. The equivalent miracle is possible in Islamic countries, where a majority seldom supports oppressive fanati- cism, if U.S. representatives are prepared to function in ways that are subtle, well informed and respectful. That means PD officers taking the time to sip sweet tea, talk poetry and discuss theology on the same day they’ve lec- tured on the virtues of a limited executive and shown the younger crowd how to find hot political blogs or download pop songs legally. The choice of diplomatic tools is always situation-spe- cific, so PD people at each post need the freedom to pick and choose among the high- and the very low-tech. For example, during the 1980s, the U.S. Information Service library in Helsinki kept a box with copies of the International Herald Tribune and other printed material that representatives of the fledgling Estonian indepen- dence movement picked up and hand-carried across the Gulf of Finland each month. The recently deceased Lennart Meri, who became Estonia’s president after independence, said that what he valued most about the F O C U S O C T O B E R 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 31 ThankYou for supporting ASAP Africa Cultivating Self-reliance in Southern Africa www.asapafrica.org #2658