WASHINGTON, Jan 19: President George Bush said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday that some of his decisions, like the invasion of Iraq, had helped Muslim extremists in their public relations battle with the United States.

"I've made some very difficult decisions that made public diplomacy in the Muslim world difficult. One was obviously attacking Iraq," the president told CNN in a question-and-answer session days before his second term begins.

"But when a free country emerges in Iraq, I think people will begin to see the wisdom of the policy," said the US president, who gave radicals the upper hand thus far in the war for Muslim public opinion.

"The propagandists have done a better job of depicting America as a hateful place, a place wanting to impose our form of government on people and our religion on people," he said.

"We're behind when it comes to selling our own story and telling people the truth about America," said Mr Bush. "On the other hand, I believe we're beginning to make progress and Condi (US Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice) is going to work hard to reform and strengthen the public diplomacy efforts," said the president.

"The relief efforts from the tsunami, because of the tsunamis, will help Muslims in Indonesia for example see that the United States of America is there to help, that our soldiers are not there to fight but to provide comfort and help as best as possible," he said. -AFP