Morocco Country Director Peace Corps signs letter to President Bush criticizing Middle East policy
Dear Mr. President,
We former U.S. diplomats applaud our 52 British counterparts who recently sent a letter to Prime M in ister Tony Blair criticizing his Middle East policy and calling on Britain to exert more influence over the United States. As retired foreign service officers we care deeply about our nation's foreign policy and U.S. credibility in the world. At the request of our government and military colleagues, we have added their names as well.
We also are deeply concerned by your April 14 endorsement of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral plan to reject the rights of three million Palestinians, to deny the right of refugees to return to their homeland, and to retain five large illegal settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank. This plan defies U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for Israel's return of occupied territories. It ignores international laws declaring Israeli settlements illegal. It flouts U.N. Resolution 194, passed in 1948, which affirms the right of refugees to return to their homes or receive compensation for the loss of their property and assistance in resettling in a host country should they choose to do so.
And it undermines the Road Map for peace drawn up by the Quartet, including the U.S. Finally, it reverses longstanding American policy in the Middle East.
Your meeting with Sharon followed a series of intensive negotiating sessions between Israelis and Americans, but which left out Palestinians. In fact, you and Prime Minister Sharon consistently have excluded Palestinians from peace negotiations. Former Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo voiced the overwhelming reaction of people around the world when he said, "I believe President Bush declared the death of the peace process today."
By closing the door to negotiations with Palestinians and the possibility of a Palestinian state, you have proved that the United States is not an even-handed peace partner. You have placed U.S. diplomats, civilians and military doing their jobs overseas in an untenable and even dangerous position.
Your unqualified support of Sharon's extra-judicial assassinations, Israel's Berlin Wall-like barrier, its harsh military measures in occupied territories, and now your endorsement of Sharon's unilateral plan are costing our country its credibility, prestige and friends. Nor is this endorsement even in the best interests of the State of Israel.
It is not too late to reassert American principles of justice and fairness in our relations with all the peoples of the Middle East. Support negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis, with the United States serving as a truly honest broker. A return to the time- honored American tradition of fairness will reverse the present tide of ill will in Europe and the Middle East-even in Iraq.
Because the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at the core of the problems in the Middle East, the entire region - and the world - will rejoice along with Israelis and Palestinians when the killing stops and peace is attained.
Sincerely,
Andrew I. Killgore, Ambassador to Qatar
Richard H. Curtiss, chief inspector, U.S. Information Agency
Colbert C. Held, Middle East Regional Officer
Thomas J. Carolan, Consul General, Turkey
C. Edward Bernier, Counselor, Embassy for Information and Culture, Pakistan
Donald A. Kruse, American Consul in Jerusalem
Edward L. Peck, Chief of Mission in Iraq and Mauritania
John Powell, Admin Counselor of Embassy in Lebanon
John Gunther Dean, Ambassador to India
James Akins, Ambassador to Saudi Arabia
Talcott Seelye, Ambassador to Syria
Eugene Bird, Counselor of Embassy in Saudi Arabia
Richard H. Nolle, Ambassador to Egypt
Ray Close, Chief of Station Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Shirl McArthur, Commercial Attache, Thailand
David Fredrick, Country Director Peace Corps Morocco
Bill Rugh, Ambassador to UAE and Yemen
James Curran, Deputy Chief of Mission Togo
Joseph Cheevers, Office oflnspectors General
Robert L. M. Nevitt, Minister for Press Affairs for the U.M.
John Brady Kiesling, Political Counselor, Greece
E. William Tatge, Counselor for Commercial Affairs, France
Henry Precht, Deputy Chief of Mission, Egypt
John O. Sutter, FSO, The Asia Foundation's Representative for Indonesia
James J. Halsema, Counselor for Public Affairs, Egypt
Nancy LeRoy, Public Affairs Officer, Mexico
Thomas M. Martin, USIA Congressional Liaison Officer
Robert C. McLaughlin, USIA Madrid
Edward Alexander, Counselor for Public Affairs, East Berlin
Roman Lotsberg, Admin Officer, Office of European A\ffairs
Shirley Hill Witt, Cultural Affairs Officer, Zambia
Arthur L. Lowrie, Political Advisor to the Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command
Carleton Coon, Ambassador to Nepal; Jane Coon, Ambassador to Bangladesh
George B. Roberts, Ambassador to Guyana
Robert V. Keeley, Ambassador to Greece
John E. Marsh, First secretary, Embassy Kuwait
Thomas W. Fina, Consul General, Milan
Harland H. Eastman, Consul General, Tangier, Morocco, and Tel Aviv, Israel
Arthur Mudge, Director, USAID Mission to Sudan
Ronald I. Spiers, Undersecretary of State for Management
Albert L. Seligmann, Director, Office of Japanese Affairs
Orin D. Parker, President, America-Middle East Educational Services
Robert C. Amerson, Counselor for Public Affairs, Italy
Christian Freer, Colonel, US Army, Retired, former chief of CIA stations and War Plans staff
Thomas J. Hirschfeld, Deputy U.S. Rep MBFR Negotiations
Edward R. M. Kane, Deputy Chief of Station, CIA, Iraq
Richard Hobbes, Colonel, US Army, Retired, Politico-Military Adviser to NEA
David Antoon, Colonel, US Air Force, Retired
Augustine A. Verrengia, Brig. General, USAF Ret.
Greg Thielmann, Director, Office for Strategic Proliferation Military Affairs, INR
Robin Berrington, Cultural Attache, Japan
Gary S. Usrey, Deputy Chief of Mission, Morocco
Owen Roberts, Ambassador to Togo
Chas W. Freeman, Jr., Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Assistant Secretary of Defense
Edwin Paul Kennedy, Jr., Regional Affairs Officer, N. African, Near Eastern, S. Asian Affairs, USIA
Thomas J. Scotes, Ambassador to Yemen
Michael Mennard, Ph.D., Regional Public Affairs Officer, India
Francois M. Dickman, Ambassador to UAE and Kuwait
Terrell E. Arnold, Deputy Director Office of Counterterrorism and Consul General, Brazil and 17 others
