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August 1, 2006
When our friends are afraid of us rather than for us
Remember when John Brady Kiesling, a career diplimat, resigned in 2003? His letter of resignation to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell was widely circulated, and my teenage daughter made copies to hand out at school. It was this letter that galvanized her into political activism, the Howard Dean campaign that made her aware of how the mass media can manipulate news to preserve the status quo, and aftermath of Hurrican Katrina that made her question her U.S. citizenship. "Where's my British passport, Mum?" she asked.
Here's a little of what Kiesling wrote in his letter of 27 February 2003:
"The loyalty of many of our friends is impressive, a tribute to American moral capital built up over a century. But our closest allies are persuaded less that war is justified than that it would be perilous to allow the U.S. to drift into complete solipsism. Loyalty should be reciprocal. Why does our President condone the swaggering and contemptuous approach to our friends and allies this Administration is fostering, including among its most senior officials. Has "oderint dum metuant" really become our motto?
"I urge you to listen to America's friends around the world. Even here in Greece, purported hotbed of European anti-Americanism, we have more and closer friends than the American newspaper reader can possibly imagine. Even when they complain about American arrogance, Greeks know that the world is a difficult and dangerous place, and they want a strong international system, with the U.S. and EU in close partnership. When our friends are afraid of us rather than for us, it is time to worry.
"And now they are afraid. Who will tell them convincingly that the United States is as it was, a beacon of liberty, security, and justice for the planet?"
Posted by Karen Christensen at August 1, 2006 1:34 PM