WaPo: U.S. Official Resigns over Afghan War

[Cowlesy]

American families, he said at the end of the letter, "must be reassured their dead have sacrificed for a purpose worthy of futures lost, love vanished, and promised dreams unkept. I have lost confidence such assurances can be made any more."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/26/AR2009102603394.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2009102603447

I think this article should be disseminated far and wide. I don't agree with his final conclusion, but I have a ton of respect for this guy's opinion. I also found it interesting how Richard Holbrooke, in trying to keep a new critic of the Administration "on the team", wanted to bring him into his firm to "shape policy." Fortunately, Mr. Hoh had the sense to resign after 10 days. Nice try, Richard.



When Matthew Hoh joined the Foreign Service early this year, he was exactly the kind of smart civil-military hybrid the administration was looking for to help expand its development efforts in Afghanistan.

A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in Iraq, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed.

But last month, in a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency.

"I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan," he wrote Sept. 10 in a four-page letter to the department's head of personnel. "I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end."


There is a lot more at the link. 3 page article, and well worth the read.

[Arklatex]

I'm proud of him telling the truth when he resigned instead of making up some PC resignation.

Ron PAul!

[Cowlesy]

I'm proud of him telling the truth when he resigned instead of making up some PC resignation.

Ron PAul!

The neocons are going to fume if this guy gets any media coverage besides this WaPo article.

[angelatc]

I wonder how the Democrats will take it?

I was in college during the Reagan years, and all we college libs did was bitch about Reagan's military spending. What I wouldn't give to have his foreign policy back in place now. It wasn't perfect but the Twin Towers weren't bombed in his tenure. Clinton and Bush did horrific damage.

ETA ABC News picked it up, as did HuffPo. I wonder if we'll hear this on Fox?

[TonySutton]

We should build on this resignation by starting a campaign to have people write to their representatives in Congress telling them to withdraw from Afghanistan.

Btw, ABC GMA covered it this morning.

[specsaregood]

The neocons are going to fume if this guy gets any media coverage besides this WaPo article.

Actually I think they will be quite happy with it. The guy didn't resign under Bush's admin, he resigned under Obama's. and all blame will be laid at the feet of the democrats. The Republicans will be the anti-war party (in name only) next election cycle.

[sevin]

But many Afghans, he wrote in his resignation letter, are fighting the United States largely because its troops are there...

I'm so glad he said this! What else would you expect people to do when a foreign country invades them?

[Cowlesy]

Actually I think they will be quite happy with it. The guy didn't resign under Bush's admin, he resigned under Obama's. and all blame will be laid at the feet of the democrats. The Republicans will be the anti-war party (in name only) next election cycle.

That's true, and if you look at the organized commenting on the WaPo article, that's exactly what they're doing. "Obama's fault! Obama Obama! This guy is this way because of Obama!"

[Pericles]

I'd suggest that our best policy choice is to pay some of the warlords to fight the Taliban and turn a blind eye to "our" guys growing the poppies instead of the Taliban. Thus, the Armed Forces of the United States can "unass" that AO.

[tangent4ronpaul]

I'm so glad he said this! What else would you expect people to do when a foreign country invades them?

That's exactly what OBL said in his open letter to the American people. He also said if you leave our holy land the WoT is *OVER*.

-t

[Reason]

awesome.

[georgiaboy]

a worthy read. wow.

[Cowlesy]

a worthy read. wow.

It's always interesting to hear from those on the ground/were on the ground.

[lester1/2jr]

read the letter itself linked on the page. awesome

[phill4paul]

Read about this on Drudge earlier and am glad to hear it. Hats off to Mr. Hoh.
Now if only active-duty members could "resign" over it.

[lester1/2jr]

whoever was takking about the right wing spin was right. limbaugh apparently already attributed it to obamas anti american blah blah blah.

whatever. let em talk. whatever it takes to get them to be anti war like they were when clinton was in office.

[Reason]

YouTube - State Dept Diplomat Quits! Afghanis Fighting Because We're Occupying Their Country! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgBii2QWNWQ)

[klamath]

Good read. He came to the exact same conclusion I did through the same process.

[lester1/2jr]

the only way that letter would be better would be if the entire army signed it

[malkusm]

I can tell you firsthand that many of the GOP party-liners that I work with are very confused right now when it comes to foreign policy.

Comments range from

"Why are we sending more troops to Afghanistan? Obama just wants to take the credit of finding bin Laden to hold it up and say he did something."

to

"Most troops lost in Afghanistan since October? Makes sense, Obama doesn't know what the hell he's doing."

to

"Woody Harrelson was on MSNBC the other night saying all the troops should come home. He should stick to doing movies."

:confused:

[lester1/2jr]

malkusm- people can't even think about what we should actually do, they think of how they can blame the opposition or use it to get their side to the top of the hill. we are like a nation of little karl roves now. somewhere between simon cowell and karl rove, that's main street usa

[bobbyw24]

Official who resigned over Afghan war says many in Obama administration agree with him
By Jordan Fabian - 11/02/09 10:24 AM ET

The only U.S. official known to have resigned in protest over the war in Afghanistan on Monday said "a lot" of people in the Obama administration agree with his point of view.

Matthew Hoh, a Foreign Service officer who worked in a province considered to be a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan, said that many in the Obama administration concur with his assessment that many Afghans are fighting the Americans simply because troops there are taking sides in an internal "civil war."



"I know a lot of people within the administration agree with me," Hoh said on NBC's "Today" show. He added that his contact with the administration has "been very professional, very accepting," adding "there's been no ill will."

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/65849-official-who-resigned-over-afghan-war-says-many-in-obama-administration-agree-with-him

[Reason]

YouTube - Matthew Hoh State Dept Official Who Resigned Over Afghanistan Policy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N7rblvwqcg)

[rpfan2008]

It proves he's not a homosexual pervert (http://tinyurl.com/HomoBM).