From: Amara Graps (amara@amara.com)
Date: Fri Feb 28 2003 - 10:17:32 MST
Roh h.
>Can some one give the background on this letter -- it reads like a piece of
>fiction.
I have a good friend in Athens, maybe she has news sources that say more
I'll ask.
All I found was the following. I'm impressed by that letter.
It's rare to find a person of integrity in politics. Count me as
a new John Brady Kiesling fan.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3395.htm
American Embassy in Athens, Greece
Principal U.S. Embassy Officials
Ambassador--Thomas J. Miller
Deputy Chief of Mission--Michael Cleverley
Political Counselor--John Brady Kiesling
Economic Counselor--John Stepanchuk
Principal Commercial Officer--Walter Hage
Consul General--Peggy Gennatiempo (Halarion Martinez, Summer 2002)
Consul General, Thessaloniki--John Koenig
Regional Security Officer--William Gaskill
Agricultural Officer--Lisa Hardy-Bass (resident in Rome)
short report from the Athens main newspaper (translated)
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100010_28/02/2003_26983
same, but slightly longer story here
International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com/articles/88180.htm
U.S. diplomat resigns to protest Iraq policy
Felicity Barringer The New York Times
Friday, February 28, 2003
UNITED NATIONS, New York A career diplomat who has served in U.S.
embassies from Tel Aviv to Casablanca to Yerevan resigned this week
in protest against the country's policies on Iraq.
The diplomat, John Brady Kiesling, the political counselor at the
U.S. 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 weapon of both
offense and defense since the days of Woodrow Wilson." Kiesling, 45,
who has been a diplomat for about 20 years, said Wednesday that he
faxed the letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell on Monday after
informing Thomas Miller, the ambassador in Athens, of his decision.
He said that he had acted alone, but had received support afterward
from colleagues. "No one has any illusions that the policy will be
changed," he added. "Too much has been invested in the war."
Louis Fintor, a State Department spokesman, said that he had no
information on Kiesling's decision and that it was department policy
not to comment on personnel matters.
In his letter, a copy of which was provided to The New York Times by
a friend of Kiesling's, the diplomat wrote Powell: "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." His letter
continued: "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."
It is rare but not unheard-of for a diplomat, immersed in the State
Department's culture of public support for policy regardless of
private feelings, to resign with this kind of public blast. From
1992 to 1994, five State Department officials quit out of
frustration with the Clinton administration's Balkans policy.
-- ******************************************************************** Amara Graps, PhD email: amara@amara.com Computational Physics vita: ftp://ftp.amara.com/pub/resume.txt Multiplex Answers URL: http://www.amara.com/ ******************************************************************** "Every exit is an entry somewhere else." --Tom Stoppard
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