Just repeating what worked during the Cold War won't do. Back then we used Voice of America and Radio Free Europe to reach people who were naturally suspicious of alternative information sources, such as Pravda. Today, Middle Eastern Muslims already have trusted information sources—Al Jazeera, in particular—and we are the source they naturally and deeply mistrust.

As a recent Council on Foreign Relations report suggested, broadcasts funded by European allies may have more credibility than broadcasts funded by the United States. That report usefully conceived public relations per se as but one part of a larger mission of "public diplomacy." Public diplomacy includes student exchange programs, interfaith dialogues, international academic conferences, and the like. These programs—not part of the standard repertoire of the Madison Avenue executives that the Bush administration has favored in its new public relations push—will probably do more good than self-conscious attempts to "re-brand America." The CFR report is a good map of the landscape of public diplomacy and of the sort of government reorganization that could facilitate it.