"Yet as we work to secure our country, as we work to protect our people…America remains an open and welcoming country," said Hughes.

HOUSTON, Texas — Growing mistrust between Arabs and Americans clouded the opening of the third annual US-Arab Economic Forum on Monday, June 26, with many calling for a bridge of the divide.

"The Dubai ports matter hit a deep nerve of worry among our population about American security in a post-9/11 world," Karen Hughes, US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy, told the economic gathering.

"Yet as we work to secure our country, as we work to protect our people I believe it is just as much in our vital national security interest that America remains an open and welcoming country."

A 6.8-billion-dollar deal reached on February 13 between the US administration and Dubai Ports World to operate six major American ports was brought to a halt over national security concerns despite trials from President George W. Bush himself to save the mega contract.

Hughes, a close Bush confidante who was recently tasked with polishing the badly smeared US image in the Arab and Muslim worlds, said the administration needed to do a better job of highlighting the benefits of foreign investment.

"President Bush knows that global commerce is a crucial part of public diplomacy and building a greater understanding," she said.

The three-day forum is attended by US and Arab government officials as well as heads of major US and Arab companies and institutions.

It aims at advancing greater business exchanges between the Middle East and the US.

The Washington Post reported on Friday, April 21, that America's allure for the Middle Easterners has been waning, especially that the economic rift between the two sides has widened into a chasm.

Investors, tourists, students and patients are now abstaining from the US over the ongoing visa hassle and security concerns, hurting Arab businesses and spending in the US and affecting its service sectors.

Ignorance

Arab delegates were also critical of the administration's double-standard policies in dealing with the Arab world.

"One of the biggest problems that we are facing in this part of the world -- in the United States -- is a lack of knowledge of what is happening on the other side," said Saudi state minister Abdullah Zainal Alireza.

"Ignorance of facts will contribute to further schism that is going to occur unless we rectify what is happening."

Alireza said one source of US-Arab mistrust was the way Washington dealt with elections in Iraq and Palestine.

"Having an election without having the rule of law, having respect for human rights that in itself is not a democracy," he said, referring to the situation in war-ravaged Iraq.

"The time has come when we have to weigh in to what we really want. Do we want a strong man -- democratically elected -- who will do what we want him to do or do we want a democratically elected government that will do what is best for the people?"

The US has cut contacts with the Hamas-led Palestinian government and suspended aid to the Palestinians.

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat from Texas, told the gathering that America's face in the Middle East "must not be militaristic."

"We must answer the question about Iraq," said Lee.

During her recent trip to Arab and Muslim countries, Hughes came face to face with anger over the Iraq invasion and bias towards Israel.

A strategy study by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has recently recommended repairing and redefining relations with Turkey to help promote America's ties with the Muslim world.

A recent global poll by the Pew Research Center indicated that the presence of US forces in the oil-rich Arab country weigh heavily on the US image in the Muslim world.