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US urges Saudis to help curb hate literature

JEDDAH: US envoy Karen Hughes said on Tuesday Washington had privately discussed the issue of hate literature in American mosques with the Saudi government and asked for their help in getting rid it.

Hughes, whose job as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy is to counter the negative US image among Muslims and explain President George W Bush’s policies, brought the subject up publicly in a meeting with Saudi journalists.

But she did not discuss it - nor other human rights issues - in a meeting later with Saudi King Abdullah. “I hope you will find room to respect people of different faith and different faith traditions,” Hughes said at a luncheon with Saudi media.

“We are concerned that literature has been found in American mosques that has a message that is not tolerant and we hope the people of Saudi Arabia will work with us as we try to deal with this issue.”

US ambassador to Saudi Arabia James Oberwetter said Hughes was the first top Bush administration official to talk publicly in the kingdom about the anti-Christian, anti-Semitic material, which some human rights groups say has been sanctioned by the Saudi government.

“We’ve been raising the issue privately,” Hughes told reporters travelling with her to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. “One of my jobs is to raise issues in, I hope, a respectful way to help other countries understand American values.”

Hughes said she had never met Abdullah before and that they only “talked on personal terms”. “In a follow up meeting, I would feel very comfortable raising those issues,” she said.

The US-Saudi alliance, built on the twin pillars of security and oil, has been strained since the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks on New York and Washington carried out by Al Qaeda. Most of the hijackers were Saudis.

On a mission to polish the United States’ battered image, special envoy Karen Hughes has been firmly reminded on a brief regional tour of the concerns of Muslims over US foreign policy and attitudes. “It’s a huge challenge, it’s confirmed,” she told accompanying reporters as she flew in late Tuesday to Ankara following earlier stops in Egypt and Saudi Arabia on her “listening tour.”

In firm but polite exchanges, complaints have ranged from US policy towards Palestinian independence and abuses at Abu Ghraib prison to a perception that Washington suspects every Muslim is a possible suicide bomber.

Hughes, a close friend of US President George W Bush who appointed her undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, has had to tread warily on what one Egyptian Muslim leader labelled a “mission impossible,” even though Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are key US allies.

Using the kind of communications skills that were instrumental in steering Bush to two terms in the White House, she presents herself as a “working mom” in “people to people” exchanges beyond her diplomatic role.

She uses short, simple messages, repeated frequently, and always delivered with a smile.

“US policies unfortunately have been very negative in the region because of Palestine,” said Mona Makram Ebeid, who teaches at the American University of Cairo.

“They have been blinded. It’s a pity,” Ebeid told a round-table discussion with Hughes. No matter that Hughes unceasingly repeats that Bush is “the first American president ever to be publicly in favour of an independent Palestinian state” - for Ebeid, “there is no follow-up to what they say.” agencies

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