WASHINGTON, December 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Create a dialogue, inform and educate young people are the principal points of a marketing campaign run by Charlotte Beers, a marketing guru hired by the State Department to polish the United States' image in the Muslim world.

Using video clips and photos, Beers on Wednesday, December 18, gave a multi-media presentation to reporters, presenting her efforts over the last year on correcting the U.S. tarnished image in the Muslim world, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Thursday, December 19.

Beers's nomination as under secretary of state for public diplomacy nearly a year ago came as the United States led anti-terrorism operations in much of the Muslim world from Indonesia to Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The appointment is gaining more importance with strong official and popular opposition, across the Arab and Islamic worlds, to the looming U.S.-led war on Iraq, American apathy with respect to mounting and incessant Israeli aggressions on armless Palestinians and the continued American military intervention in Afghanistan.

In an online poll conducted by IslamOnline, out of 600 participants, 574 underlined that any U.S.-led war on Iraq is unjustifiable.

Of the same participants, 547 branded as "traitor" any one who offers facilities to the United States in case of a military offensive against Iraq.

Beers's presentation comes on the heels of a poll which showed a sharp deterioration of the U.S. image in Muslim countries.

The poll, conducted by the Pew Research Center, a Washington-based think-tank, questioned 38,000 people across 44 countries.

It found that 59 percent of people surveyed in Lebanon had an unfavorable opinion of the United States, 75 percent felt the same way in Jordan, and 69 percent in both Pakistan and Egypt, all considered close U.S. allies.

Beers's campaign relies on all forms of communication from the Internet to television, and includes a radio station to broadcast U.S. pop music and news in Arabic.

Secretary of State Colin Powell has increased appearances on programs broadcast in the Muslin world to better explain U.S. policies.

The campaign highlights U.S. values, especially religious tolerance.

Along those lines, the State Department published a 55-page brochure in some 15 languages on Muslin life in the United States and the freedom of Muslims to practice their religion in some 1,200 mosques and Islamic centers.

The pamphlet also focused on successful Muslim-Americans such as Elias Zerhouni, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

News stories and video clips with the same themes were shown on local television channels in several Muslim nations, including Malaysia.

Beers also deplored verbal attacks against Muslims as counterproductive to her efforts.

The 66-year-old Texan also underlined the importance of dialogue between the United States and the Muslim world.

Her office will next target Islamic youth with a magazine and an educational science and technology television show designed for 12-20 year-old Egyptians.