Longtime Bush adviser resigns

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:48:23 source pressTV Karen Hughes, one of George W. Bush's last remaining advisers from his circle of Texas aides, has said she will step down this year. Her departure follows that of close Bush aides Karl Rove and Dan Bartlett. The three from Texas are widely credited with Bush's rise to the White House. Announcing Hughes' decision to leave the department in mid-December, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she had accepted the resignation "with a great deal of sadness but also a great deal of happiness for what she has achieved" and with the understanding that she would continue to work on several projects. Hughes has spent the past two years trying to improve the image of the US abroad, especially in the Middle East. She was responsible for trying to polish the image of the US overseas in the wake of the Iraq war and the damaging Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. But polls show no improvement in the world's view of the US since she took over. A Pew Research survey earlier said the unpopular Iraq war is a persistent drag on the US image and has helped push favorable opinion of America in Muslim Indonesia, for instance, from 75% in 2000 to 30% last year.