Wall St. Journal:
Donald Rumsfeld has always been known for speaking in blunt terms. This week, the Defense Secretary lived up to his reputation when he told the Army War College that the U.S. deserves a "D" or "D-plus" for its efforts in communicating in the "battle of ideas" that is part of the war on terrorism.
He added: "We have not found the formula as a country" to counter the message of the extremists in the Muslim world. "The strategy must do a great deal more to reduce the lure of the extremist ideology by standing with those moderate Muslims advocating peaceful change, freedom and tolerance."
"The enemy we face may be the most brutal in our history. They currently lack only the means -- not the desire -- to kill, murder millions of innocent people with weapons vastly more powerful than boarding passes and box cutters," Mr. Rumsfeld told the assembled military officers, referring to the terrorists who struck on 9/11.
Maybe it's time to dust off some of the folks who made Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty such a success in combating the ideology of Communism during the Cold War. They could form a "Team B" to reevaluate and suggest experiments in how to conduct U.S. public diplomacy.
This seems like a good idea to me. Battle in the marketplace of ideas.
Of course, someone will probably accuse the U.S. of "propaganda" if we actually did this.
