I’m almost speechless in light of the decay of the political situation in the US these days. The dual assault on the constitution, coupled with a willful ignorance of the world’s thoughts wrt Iraq make this the darkest political time in my life since the era of Nixon and Watergate. One key difference is that while Nixon was paranoid, along with his many other flaws, his disregard for constitutional niceties and outright attacks on civil liberties never measured up to the current regime’s level of disrespect. (Guess I did have a thing or 2 to say 🙂
Thankfully, two distinguished, elder statesmen for our country have had a lot to say recently, and I’m pleased to share some of their thinking:
John Brady Kiesling, a career diplomat in the State Dept, resigned after 20 years of service, citing an inability
“to reconcile my conscience with my ability to represent the current U.S. Administration”, in a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell , published in the NY Times. (NY Times, reg. req.)
But 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 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. September 11 did not do as much damage to the fabric of American society as we seem determined to so to ourselves.
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 … Has