A career U.S. diplomat who has served in U.S. embassies from Tel Aviv to Casablanca resigned this week in protest of the Bush administration’s plans to attack Iraq. John Brady Kiesling wrote in his resignation letter: “Our fervent pursuit of war with Iraq is driving us to squander the international legitimacy that has been America’s most potent weapon of both offense and defense since the days of Woodrow Wilson.” The diplomat of 20 years wrote: “We should ask ourselves why we have failed to persuade more of the world that a war with Iraq is necessary. We have over the past two years done too much to assert to our world partners that narrow and mercenary U.S. interests override the cherished values of our partners.” The New York Times reports Kiesling faxed the letter to Secretary of State General Colin Powell.