State Dept. Official Resigns Over War

Matthew Hoh, a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq war and the senior U.S. civilian in the Afghan province of Zabul, resigned from his post last month in protest over the war—the first official to do so. In a four-page letter, the well-respected Foreign Service officer wrote that despite "reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy," the resignation was based "not on how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end." Before joining the Foreign Service in late 2008, Hoh had served a tour in Iraq as a Marine, and returned to the country as a civilian contractor, coming home in 2007 with PTSD. In Afghanistan, he was assigned early on to research the Korengal Valley, where several Americans had been killed; Hoh came to the conclusion that the U.S. military presence in the area had actually strengthened the insurgency, and that the natives did not want the American soldiers. Hoh's September resignation has had repercussions throughout the U.S. government: both the U.S. ambassador and Richard Holbrooke offered the veteran a job (he turned down both), and Biden's foreign policy advisor is scheduled to meet with him this week. Hoh says "you have to draw the line somewhere, and say this is their problem to solve."