Cal Thomas on Karen Hughes

In a recent meeting in her State Department office, Karen Hughes told syndicated columnist Cal Thomas that she recognizes the difference between the Cold War, when “we were trying to get information into largely closed societies whose people were hungry to hear from us,” and today, when "we're competing for attention and credibility in a very crowded communications environment.” Thomas writes:

Mrs. Hughes mentions a group of Saudi clerics who made their first visit to America at the State Department's invitation. She says she had been told their Friday sermons "had been very negative, very anti-American." They visited American synagogues, mosques and churches. Mrs. Hughes says she was told by "our people on the ground" in Saudi Arabia that the clerics now have a "much different and changed view of our country."

I ask if Mrs. Hughes has checked on the content of their sermons since their return to Saudi Arabia. She says she has not, but has received reports there has been a "difference" and that the clerics have a different view of America. I wonder if this is part of the propaganda ploy, to tell us what we want to hear so we will let down our guard. Can they be converted, if not to our point of view, than at least to foreswear violence in pursuit of their political objectives?...

Mrs. Hughes is particularly fond of the exchange program that allows students and others to come to the U.S. to study and to observe Muslims and others able to dress, worship and associate as they please. Again, I wonder if this approach is a Cold War relic. The September 11, 2001, hijackers lived, worked, worshiped and observed our way of life, and they killed 3,000 on our soil. Following the British bombings two summers ago, the British public expressed shock that "home-grown" young Muslim men could turn on their countrymen. The reason is that they did not see Britain as their country, but heaven as their destination and jihad as their vehicle for getting there.