[Peace-discuss] A second diplomat resigns

[patton paul]

 Letter of Resignation by John H. Brown, Foreign Service Officer


To: Secretary of State Colin Powell

March 10, 2003

Dear Mr. Secretary:

I am joining my colleague John Brady Kiesling in submitting my resignation
from the Foreign Service (effective immediately) because I cannot in good
conscience support President Bush's war plans against Iraq.

The president has failed:

--To explain clearly why our brave men and women in uniform should be
ready to sacrifice their lives in a war on Iraq at this time;

--To lay out the full ramifications of this war, including the extent of
innocent civilian casualties;

--To specify the economic costs of the war for ordinary Americans;

--To clarify how the war would help rid the world of terror;

--To take international public opinion against the war into serious
consideration.

Throughout the globe the United States is becoming associated with the
unjustified use of force. The president's disregard for views in other
nations, borne out by his neglect of public diplomacy, is giving birth to
an anti-American century.

I joined the Foreign Service because I love our country. Respectfully, Mr.
Secretary, I am now bringing this calling to a close, with a heavy heart
but for the same reason that I embraced it.

Sincerely,

John H. Brown
Foreign Service Officer

John H. Brown, a Princeton PhD, joined the Foreign Service in 1981 and has
served in London, Prague, Krakow, Kiev, Belgrade and, most recently,
Moscow.

A senior member of the Foreign Service since 1997, he has focused his
diplomatic work on press and cultural affairs. Under a State Department
program, he has, up to now, been an Associate at the Institute for the
Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, where he was assigned in
August 2001.

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