Egypt may be one of Washington's top Arab allies but US envoy Karen Hughes will have her work cut out Sunday when she arrives on a regional trip aimed at improving her country's image.
The new undersecretary of state for public diplomacy is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, Egyptian students and religious leaders but no members of the opposition, the US embassy said.
"I think the US diplomat is facing a 'mission impossible', or almost impossible, because Washington has systematically violated all international principles and rights," said Mohammed Habib, a leader of the banned-but-tolerated Muslim Brotherhood.
"The United States has imposed the law of the jungle. They invaded Afghanistan under the pretext of the war on terror, occupied Iraq on false allegations that it had weapons of mass destruction and blindly supported the Zionist entity," said Habib.
Egypt is the second recipient of US aid after Israel but anti-Americanism is almost as rife as anti-Semitism in the Arab world's most populous country.
Washington's unwavering support for Israel during the Palestinian uprising and the invasion of Iraq of US troops have rooted a distrust that Hughes, a confidante of US President Goerge W. Bush, will struggle to counter.
The fact that her deputy is Egyptian-born Dina Powell -- formerly in charge of personnel at the White House -- will do little to quell public anger at US policies.
"We're in a war on terror. We are still at war. And to succeed in this war, we must effectively explain our policies and fundamental values to people around the world. This is an incredibly important mission," Bush said during Hughes' swearing in ceremony earlier this month.
The US administration's image was dealt an grave blow by the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, when pictures of Iraqi detainees being abused by US soldiers were beamed around the world.
The United States has played an active role in promoting democracy in Egypt and supporting civil society organisations bent on ensuring the transparency of elections.
But in a country where praise for the September 11 terror attacks is not uncommon and the US administration is associated with Israel, people do not admit easily to links with America and criticism is a knee-jerk reaction.
Some pundits even thought it appropriate to suggest that hurricane Katrina, which wreaked death and chaos in US states on the Gulf of Mexico, was divine punishment for the "Great Satan"'s daily exactions against Arabs and Muslims.
Prominent Egyptian writer Sonallah Ibrahim simply argued that "Arab grievances towards Washington are as irreversible as the US position towards the Arab world."
"We don't need a PR offensive, because it's pointless to create satellite radio and TV channels to win the hearts and minds," Ibrahim told AFP in reference to Al-Hurra TV and Radio Sawa, launched with US funds after the Iraqi war.
"Americans should acknowledge their failure in Iraq, be fair to the Palestinians and end their unconditional support to Israel," the writer said. "The US regime is corrupt, aggressive and contemptuous of human rights."
Ibrahim, who rejected a literary prize in 2003 in protest at the Egyptian government's cooperation with Washington and Israel, expresses views echoed by the mainstream in Egypt.
In a country where public opinion demonised Bush and has been less than critical of Al-Qaeda supremo Osama bin Laden, Washington has joined the Jewish state as the main target of the voracious national appetite for conspiracy theories.
"The United States is the cause of all our ills," said Rasha Mohib, a student at Cairo University. "They have endless hatred for Arabs and Muslims, whom they are seeking to destroy by any means."
"Israel is the prime tool of destruction in US hands," said Mohib, a young woman from Egypt's Coptic Christian minority.
Hughes' trip will also take her to Turkey and Saudi Arabia.