U.S. Diplomat’s Letter of Resignation

This U.S. Diplomat’s Letter of Resignation [NY Times, free registration required] is very well written and dead on. Too bad it won’t amount to anything. The current administration is too wrapped up in its own self-certainty that there’s little that will penetrate their shields except, I fervently hope, the 2004 election. One excerpt:

Mr. Secretary, I have enormous respect for your character and ability. You have preserved more international credibility for us than our policy deserves, and salvaged something positive from the excesses of an ideological and self-serving Administration. 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 Americaï¿•s ability to defend its interests.