It was five years ago today that Brady Kiesling, American diplomat at the US Embassy in Athens, wrote to Secretary of State Colin Powell (the entire text is on Kiesling's website)
Dear Mr. Secretary:
I am writing you to submit my resignation from the Foreign Service of the United States and from my position as Political Counselor in U.S. Embassy Athens... My faith in my country and its values was the most powerful weapon in my diplomatic arsenal. ... until this Administration it had been possible to believe that by upholding the policies of my president I was also upholding the interests of the American people and the world. I believe it no longer.
The policies we are now asked to advance are incompatible not only with American values but also with American interests. 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 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 confidence that our democratic process is ultimately self-correcting, and hope that in a small way I can contribute from outside to shaping policies that better serve the security and prosperity of the American people and the world we share.
Sincerely,
John Brady Kiesling
U.S. Embassy Athens
Anyone who thinks that Kiesling's action was anything less than heroic underestimates the man. Not one to seek out cushy assignments, Kiesling served in Armenia when it was at war with neighboring Azerbaijan, and later became Deputy U.S. Special Negotiator for Nagorno-Karabakh, the disputed territory that was the cause of the war. Earlier - according to his resume - he "won the 1994 Rivkin Award (group award) given by the American Foreign Service Association for constructive dissent. Was member of a group of a dozen State Department officials that pushed for international intervention in Bosnia." In a March 14, 2003 interview with Bill Moyers on the PBS program "NOW," Kiesling referred to the philosophical underpinning of his position on the Bosnian intervention: "I am not a pacifist by any means. There are times when violence or at least the credible threat of violence is necessary to prevent people wrapped in the throes of some nationalist obsession from doing something criminal."
But with the Bush administration rush to war increasingly evident throughout 2002 and early 2003, "constructive dissent" had reached its limits. Kiesling's resignation was the ultimate sacrifice - giving up his "dream job." He was giving up a career that thousands aspire to, and risking his financial future by jettisoning a stable livelihood. For Kiesling, he at least had the support of those who - though relatively few in number in the US, were legion throughout the world - saw that Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld were leading the United States into another quagmire. A Greek editorial said of Kiesling at the time "Thank God there are good Americans." Kiesling, in the NOW interview, recalls his farewell to diplomacy:
As my final farewell to the embassy I invited all of my colleagues to a beautiful hilltop overlooking the Aegean [to the] ruined temple of the Goddess Nemesis. Nemesis is the goddess who punishes people for transgressing the divine limits. And this temple was set up largely to commemorate the victory over the Persians who had by definition transgressed the divine limits in their attempt to conquer the Greeks.
I raised a glass of wine and sort of prayed, you know, poured a glass of libation to Nemesis and said, "now, God save the United States. God save us from our own hubris, from our own arrogance, from our sense that we can do things alone and not reckon the costs to our friends and our allies."
Nemesis and hubris - fitting that Kiesling is steeped in the ancient Greek classics. He foresaw the tragoidia of the Bush crusade in Iraq, but also held out hope that the "self-correction" of the American democratic process will save the US from Mr. Bush's folly.
By the way, read "Taking The King's Shilling" by David T. Jones, a discussion of the continuing unrest over Iraq among American diplomats, in the February 2008 issue of the Foreign Service Journal.
Parallel History, February 24, 2003 - part of a mini-series in "Avuncular American," looking back at five years of milestones along the road to "Mission Accomplished." To be continued.