from SLATE: >State Department Official Resigns Over Afghan War > Matthew Hoh emphasizes that he's not "some peacenik, pot-smoking hippie." > After all, he is a former Marine captain who has seen combat up close and > strongly believes "there are plenty of dudes who need to be killed." When he > joined the foreign service earlier this year he eventually became the senior > U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban stronghold. But a month ago, he > became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan > war. In a four-page letter of resignation, Hoh explained that he believes the > American presence in Afghanistan is fueling the insurgency. Senior U.S. > officials reacted to the letter, and many asked him to stay. Even the U.S. > ambassador to Afghanistan and the administration's special representative for > Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, offered him jobs, but he > eventually declined them all, saying there's no need for Americans to be > fighting in what is essentially a civil war. "I realize what I'm getting into > … what people are going to say about me," he said. "I never thought I would > be doing this."<
from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/26/AR2009102603394.html -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
