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 |