Thought you political debaters might like to read the following letter (clipped from Salon.com) which my Marine pilot buddy sent me. Just more food for thought.
> > > U.S. Diplomat John Brady Kiesling
> > >
> > > Letter of Resignation, to: Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
> > >
> > > ATHENS | Thursday 27 February 2003
> > >
> > > Dear Mr. Secretary:
> > >
> > > I am writing you to submit my resignation from the Foreign Service of
> > > the United States and from my position as Political Counselor in U.S.
> > > Embassy Athens, effective March 7. I do so with a heavy heart. The
> > > baggage of my upbringing included a felt obligation to give something
> > > back to my country. Service as a U.S. diplomat was a dream job. I was
> > > paid to understand foreign languages and cultures, to seek out
> > > diplomats, politicians, scholars and journalists, and to persuade
> > > them that U.S. interests and theirs fundamentally coincided. My faith
> > > in my country and its values was the most powerful weapon in my
> > > diplomatic arsenal.
> > >
> > > It is inevitable that during twenty years with the State Department I
> > > would become more sophisticated and cynical about the narrow and
> > > selfish bureaucratic motives that sometimes shaped our policies.
> > > Human nature is what it is, and I was rewarded and promoted for
> > > understanding human nature. But until this Administration it had been
> > > possible to believe that by upholding the policies of my president I
> > > was also upholding the interests of the American people and the
> > > world. I believe it no longer.
> > >
> > > The policies we are now asked to advance are incompatible not only
> > > with American values but also with American interests. Our fervent
> > > pursuit of war with Iraq is driving us to squander the international
> > > legitimacy that has been America's most potent weapon of both offense
> > > and defense since the days of Woodrow Wilson. We have begun to
> > > dismantle the largest and most effective web of international
> > > relationships the world has ever known. Our current course will bring
> > > instability and danger, not security.
> > >
> > > The sacrifice of global interests to domestic politics and to
> > > bureaucratic self-interest is nothing new, and it is certainly not a
> > > uniquely American problem. Still, we have not seen such systematic
> > > distortion of intelligence, such systematic manipulation of American
> > > opinion, since the war in Vietnam. The September 11 tragedy left us
> > > stronger than before, rallying around us a vast international
> > > coalition to cooperate for the first time in a systematic way against
> > > the threat of terrorism. But rather than take credit for those
> > > successes and build on them, this Administration has chosen to make
> > > terrorism a domestic political tool, enlisting a scattered and
> > > largely defeated Al Qaeda as its bureaucratic ally. We spread
> > > disproportionate terror and confusion in the public mind, arbitrarily
> > > linking the unrelated problems of terrorism and Iraq. The result, and
> > > perhaps the motive, is to justify a vast misallocation of shrinking
> > > public wealth to the military and to weaken the safeguards that
> > > protect American citizens from the heavy hand of government.
> > > September 11 did not do as much damage to the fabric of American
> > > society as we seem determined to do to ourselves. Is the Russia of
> > > the late Romanovs really our model, a selfish, superstitious empire
> > > thrashing toward self-destruction in the name of a doomed status quo?
> > >
> > > We should ask ourselves why we have failed to persuade more of the
> > > world that a war with Iraq is necessary. We have over the past two
> > > years done too much to assert to our world partners that narrow and
> > > mercenary U.S. interests override the cherished values of our
> > > partners. Even where our aims were not in question, our consistency
> > > is at issue. The model of Afghanistan is little comfort to allies
> > > wondering on what basis we plan to rebuild the Middle East, and in
> > > whose image and interests. Have we indeed become blind, as Russia is
> > > blind in Chechnya, as Israel is blind in the Occupied Territories, to
> > > our own advice, that overwhelming military power is not the answer to
> > > terrorism? After the shambles of post-war Iraq joins the shambles in
> > > Grozny and Ramallah, it will be a brave foreigner who forms ranks
> > > with Micronesia to follow where we lead.
> > >
> > > We have a coalition still, a good one. The loyalty of many of our
> > > friends is impressive, a tribute to American moral capital built up
> > > over a century. But our closest allies are persuaded less that war is
> > > justified than that it would be perilous to allow the U.S. to drift
> > > into complete solipsism. Loyalty should be reciprocal. Why does our
> > > President condone the swaggering and contemptuous approach to our
> > > friends and allies this Administration is fostering, including among
> > > its most senior officials. Has "oderint dum metuant" really become
> > > our motto?
> > >
> > > I urge you to listen to America's friends around the world. Even here
> > > in Greece, purported hotbed of European anti-Americanism, we have
> > > more and closer friends than the American newspaper reader can
> > > possibly imagine. Even when they complain about American arrogance,
> > > Greeks know that the world is a difficult and dangerous place, and
> > > they want a strong international system, with the U.S. and E.U. in
> > > close partnership. When our friends are afraid of us rather than for
> > > us, it is time to worry. And now they are afraid. Who will tell them
> > > convincingly that the United States is as it was, a beacon of
> > > liberty, security, and justice for the planet?
> > >
> > > Mr. Secretary, I have enormous respect for your character and
> > > ability. You have preserved more international credibility for us
> > > than our policy deserves, and salvaged something positive from the
> > > excesses of an ideological and self-serving Administration. But your
> > > loyalty to the President goes too far. We are straining beyond its
> > > limits an international system we built with such toil and treasure,
> > > a web of laws, treaties, organizations, and shared values that sets
> > > limits on our foes far more effectively than it ever constrained
> > > America's ability to defend its interests.
> > >
> > > I am resigning because I have tried and failed to reconcile my
> > > conscience with my ability to represent the current U.S.
> > > Administration. I have confidence that our democratic process is
> > > ultimately self-correcting, and hope that in a small way I can
> > > contribute from outside to shaping policies that better serve the
> > > security and prosperity of the American people and the world we share.
> > >
> > > Posted on
> > > salon.com (premium)
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> >
> >