Since 9/11, the United States has led coalitions to oust tyrannical governments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Today some 50 million people are enjoying the fruits of democracy for the first time. More recently, there was the U.S. response to the Indian Ocean tsunami. Within days, the U.S. military was on the scene, delivering food and medical aid while providing shelter to an untold number of victims.

So why the brickbats from certain international officials?

Soon after the disaster, a U.N. leader criticized the United States for being "stingy." Hardly. Our government wound up pledging more than $350 million as the scope of the disaster became apparent. And that excludes private donations, which will far surpass the governmental contributions of most countries.

Keep in mind that the only efficient way to deliver most of that aid was via the U.S. military. It was U.S. ships and helicopters that delivered our help. It was U.S. service members who distributed it. This will cost millions on top of the country's $350 million contribution.

This sort of relief mission highlights how remarkably adaptive the U.S. military is.

A nation's military, after all, is concerned with protecting its homeland. But the U.S. military also does an excellent job selflessly helping other lands. As a "senior U.S. military official" told reporters on Jan. 12, "We're there to help Indonesians, we're in Thailand to help the Thai, we're in Sri Lanka to help the people there."

In other words, the United States won't impose its help; they will provide aid while needed, then fade quietly away. "How long they want us there is a sovereign decision," this military official added. "If they want us to go, we'll go."

But for now, they don't want the U.S. personnel to leave. As a senior Indonesian leader told me recently in Jakarta, "Thank God for the American military. It's the only group organized and able to respond to this crisis."

Clearly, the United States is an indispensable force for good in the world. It is doing a good job helping others, but that's not enough. Now the United States needs to do a better job promoting its good deeds.

According to the Defense Science Board, a Pentagon advisory group, U.S. public diplomacy is in crisis. It says the government must do a better job of communicating "to global and domestic audiences in ways that are credible and allow them to makeinformed, independent judgments." Such messages, it says, "should seek to reduce, not to increase, perceptions of arrogance, opportunism, and double standards."

In the latest edition of The Heritage Foundation's Mandate for Leadership, we lay out some steps the government should take to improve the United States' image internationally. Helle Dale and Stephen Johnson write that the United States should create two positions -- a Public Diplomacy Coordinator on the National Security Council and a strengthened Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy within the Department of State. These people would work to craft effective public diplomacy that would support U.S. foreign policy.

The U.S. government should also centralize its outreach operations. For example, officials need to make sure the State Department's public diplomacy professionals are working in tandem with the military's communication specialists.

U.S. officials need to explain what the United States is doing to help the rest of the world and become a resource for anyone anywhere who's seeking information. The country could take simple steps in that direction by expanding its broadcast outreach through Voice of America and reopening more U.S. libraries in foreign cities.

The people of the United States don't want to be thanked, but it's not too much to ask that they be appreciated as a major force for good. Public diplomacy can help. It helped win the Cold War -- and it can help win hearts and minds in the global war against terrorism.

Ed Feulner is president of The Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based conservative public policy research institute.

United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International, or SpaceDaily.com.

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