Hughes intends to report criticism to Bush

Hughes intends to report criticism to Bush

Audrey McAvoy, Associated Press/Honolulu

The Bush administration's international public relations chief said she will report back to President George W. Bush on the critical remarks she heard in Indonesia and Malaysia about the United States and its invasion of Iraq.

But Karen Hughes said people in predominantly Muslim Asian nations also agreed that the United States needs to support Iraq so it can build a stable and democratic nation.

Hughes spoke to reporters during a stop in Hawaii on her way back to Washington.

The U.S. undersecretary for public diplomacy said she understood that there "are some people and some countries" who disagreed with the decision to invade Iraq.

Still, she said "there is pretty unanimous agreement" that Washington should help the Iraqi people.

"I see heads nodding around the world -- even when they disagree with our initial decision to go into Iraq -- they agree that it is important for the world as a whole and for the Iraqi people that we are successful in Iraq," Hughes said.

In Jakarta, Hughes met with university students who repeatedly criticized the original U.S. rationale for going to war -- that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was allegedly hiding weapons of mass destruction. Such arms were never found.

One student told Hughes that U.S. policies were creating hostility among Muslims, but she added that some students came up to tell her afterward that they didn't agree with what was said and that the United States was pursuing the right policies.

Hughes said she heard about the importance of international exchanges from the people she met during her travels. One woman in Malaysia told Hughes she wanted more Americans to come to her country to learn more about it, she said.

Malaysians also said they hoped more people from their country would be able to visit the United States.

While in Hawaii, Hughes had lunch with Gov. Linda Lingle and visited the East-West Center, a State Department-funded educational and research organization in Honolulu.

She said Hawaii was "perfectly positioned" to be a bridge between the countries of Asia and the Pacific and rest of the United States.