Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, the American consul general in Jeddah, is a bright career diplomat with considerable experience. Posted to Baghdad during an earlier tour, she has been active in attempting to explain her government’s position in the war on Iraq in meetings and discussions. It is a tactic that Arab diplomats should more aggressively pursue to serve their causes in the countries they are assigned to.
Abercrombie-Winstanley is also known to be open to criticism. A recent example was a meeting she held with Saudi students in a girls’ college. The young girls — whose only concerns are thought by many to be putting on makeup, listening to music and running after the latest fad — expressed strong and precocious views. The consul general met with marked national sentiment and strong human concerns. The girls stood united against the US/UK aggression, a conviction not shaken by the temptation of scholarships in America dangled before them.
The consul general is a skillful diplomat and very personable in her approach. She was hampered above all by the issue itself, defending as she was an unjust cause. Her boss Colin Powell himself, an experienced salesman, and the combined power of Washington’s publicity machine, despite offering huge bribes and considerable threats, were after all unable to convince the UN Security Council and even a sizable portion of the American public. So it is perhaps no surprise that the consul general should fail to convince young Saudis, who feel they may have a personal stake in wanting the Americans gone from the region.
Washington will have to try harder to prove its good intentions toward the people of the region before diplomatic efforts can succeed. So far, the impression has not been reassuring. Many feel the US is motivated by a desire to control Iraqi oil as well as to divide the region into small weak states leaving only Israel in place as a force to be reckoned with.
No matter how bright diplomats may be, they cannot be expected to succeed in their mission unless the cause they are defending is a just and fair one. Diplomats should be commended for their efforts to win over local public opinion, but in this case the gap has become too wide.
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(Muhammad Al-Shibani is a Saudi writer based in Jeddah.)
Arab News Features 4 April 2003
