Ex-diplomats hit at Bush Middle East policy

More than 50 retired US diplomats have written to US President George Bush to complain about US policy towards the Middle East, claiming that President Bush’s approach was losing the US “credibility, prestige and friends“.

The letter is similar to one written by 52 former British diplomats to Tony Blair last week.

Harshly criticising Bush for his support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the letter said: “Your unabashed 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 plans are costing our country its credibility, prestige and friends.”

According to Andrew Killgore, who served as US ambassador to Qatar from 1977 to 1980 and was coordinating the effort, the letter has been signed by several former ambassadors, including James Akins, who was US ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1973 to 1976, Robert Keeley who was assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 1978 to 1980 and later ambassador to Zimbabwe and Greece, and John Gunther Dean, ambassador to India from 1985 to 1988.

They said they were deeply concerned by Mr Bush’s endorsement last month of Mr Sharon’s plan to withdraw unilaterally from Gaza – a plan he may now have to rethink after failing to gain the support of his Likud party.

“We are going to have the worst of all possible worlds,” said Greg Thielmann, a former State Department analyst who signed the letter.

“We have probably done irretrievable damage in the eyes of the Arab world,” Mr Thielmann added.

"We’re not the good guys any more… We are viewed as hypocritical. ”

The diplomats are planning a news conference in Washington today to go public with their opposition.

The American Educational Trust, a foundation where some of the former envoys are based, said: “Signatories are united by their belief that the US government is heading toward great danger.

“Our hope is that both political parties will take heed and listen to the voices of experienced diplomats.

“Your unabashed 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 plans are costing our country its credibility, prestige and friends.”

The signatories praised British counterparts who went public over their concerns last month.

“We former diplomats applaud our 52 British colleagues who recently sent a letter to British Prime Minister Tony Blair criticising his Middle East policy and calling on Britain to exert more influence over the United States,” the US letter said.

The organiser of the American letter, Andrew Killgore, who served as US ambassador to Qatar from 1977 to 1980, told the BBC: “We thought American diplomats were as unhappy as British diplomats were over what the president did.”

He said Mr Bush should not “take away the right of the Palestinians to return, or give Sharon the right to take settlement blocks in the West Bank which will hardly leave the Palestinians any contiguous territory“.

Mr Killgore said the letter was mainly about policy towards Israel and the Palestinians, but it touched on Iraq too.

“If anything, Iraq is worse,” he said.