Mr. Secretary, I have enormous respect for your character and ability. But your loyalty to the President goes too far.

This is the text of John Brady Kiesling's letter of resignation to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. Mr. Kiesling is a career diplomat who has served in United States embassies from Tel Aviv to Casablanca to Yerevan.

] 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.

] 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.

] We should ask ourselves why we have failed to persuade
] more of the world that a war with Iraq is necessary.

] 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.

] Who will tell them convincingly that the
] United States is as it was, a beacon of liberty,
] security, and justice for the planet?

] 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 been struggling for weeks to say what this man has said, as well as he has said it. This man should be applauded for sticking by his beliefs.

Past memes:
http://www.memestreams.net/users/acidus/blogid4078689
http://www.memestreams.net/users/acidus/blogid4091650
http://www.memestreams.net/users/acidus/blogid4067773
http://www.memestreams.net/users/acidus/blogid4025001