Mullen says public relations won't bring back lost credibility in war against extremism

Lahore, Aug. 29 (ANI): US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen has warned that no amount of public relations will establish credibility if America fails to communicate its actions globally.

"We need to worry a lot less about how to communicate our actions and much more about what our actions communicate. Each time we fail to live up to our values or don't follow up on a promise, we look more and more like the arrogant Americans the enemy claims we are," Mullen wrote in essay published by official military journal Joint Force Quarterly.

Admiral Mullen expressed concern over a trend to create entirely new government and military organisations to manage a broad public relations effort to counter anti-Americanism, which he said had allowed strategic communication to become a series of bureaucracies rather than a way to combat extremist ideology.

"The problem isn't that we are bad at communicating or being outdone by men in caves. Most of them aren't even in caves. The Taliban and Al Qaeda live largely among the people. They intimidate and control and communicate from within, not from the sidelines," the Daily Times quoted Admiral Mullen, as saying.

"We shouldn't care if people don't like us. That isn't the goal. The goal is credibility. And we earn that over time. Only through a shared appreciation of the people's culture, needs and hopes for the future can we hope ourselves to supplant the extremist narrative," he added. (ANI)