The Bush White House recently appointed Karen Hughes as US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Her job in this role is to deliver the "good news" about US foreign policy. This sounds good to the neo-cons, but when faced with a crowd of free-thinking Turks, she had a terrible time breaking through, and her talking points were revealed as bland American propaganda.
She met with a group of about twenty Turkish women on Wednesday, and found that unlike her previous meetings with sympathetic diplomats, Hughes was instead faced with an angry group opposed to American policy and the war in Iraq.
Hughes faced hostility and negative comments from nearly every participant in the poorly orchestrated dialogue. The entire group was hostile to Hughes bland comments. Participant Hidayet Sefkatli Tuksal said "This war is really, really bringing your positive efforts to the level of zero,". According to a recent Pew Research poll in Turkey, only 17 percent of Turks support Bush's War on Terror.
Bush appointees usually only meet with groups and figures who are supportive of their policies, as evidenced by Condoleeza Rice's recent visit to Haiti, or Bush's many public appearances. Recently, a number of well orchestrated press conferences have gone terribly awry for the neo-cons, including Dick Cheney's humiliation on television, and Bush asking for prompted questions from phantom reporters who did not materialize during his press conference last week. This time it was Hughes' turn.