US Diplomat Resigns to Protest Iraq Policy: Newspaper

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, February 28, 2003

US Diplomat Resigns to Protest Iraq Policy: Newspaper

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A career diplomat who has served in United States embassies from Tel Aviv to Casablanca to Yerevan resigned this week in protest against the country's policies on Iraq, The New York Times said Thursday.

The diplomat, John Brady Kiesling, the political counselor at the United States embassy in Athens, said in his resignation letter, "Our fervent pursuit of war with Iraq is driving us to squander the international legitimacy that has been America's most potent weapons of both offense and defense since the days of Woodrow Wilson."

Kiesling, 45, who has been a diplomat for about 20 years, told The New York Times on Wednesday night that he faxed the letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell on Monday after informing Thomas Miller, the ambassador in Athens, of his decision.

"We should asked ourselves why we have failed to persuade more of the world that a war with Iraq is necessary," Kiesling said in the letter.

"We have over the past two years done too much to assert to our world partners that narrow and mercenary US interests override the cherished values of our partners," he added.

The diplomat said he had acted alone, but has been comforted by "the expressions of support" he had gotten afterwards from colleagues.

"No one has any illusions that the policy will be changed," The New York Times quoted the diplomat as saying. "Too much as has been invested in the war," he added.

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