More than 50 former US diplomats say President George W. Bush's Middle East policy is costing the United States credibility, prestige and friends in an open letter to be made public today.
The letter expresses the signatories' support for 52 retired British diplomats who also sent a letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair last week.
"We former diplomats applaud our 52 British colleagues who recently sent a letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair criticising his Middle East policy and calling on Britain to exert more influence over the United States," the US letter begins.
The letter said: "Your unabashed support of [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel ] 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 Mr 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 Mr James Akins, who was US ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1973 to 1976; Mr Robert Keeley, assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 1978 to 1980 and later ambassador to Zimbabwe and Greece; and Mr John Gunther Dean, ambassador to India from 1985 to 1988.
Mr Killgore said the group intended to go public today with a Washington news conference. He said so far there were around 50 signatories.
Other senior former diplomats said they were considering joining and were deeply disturbed by the recent direction of US policy, not only in regard to the Middle East but also on human rights generally.
"We're not the good guys any more and our foreign relations have been and are being damaged. We are viewed as hypocritical," said Mr William Rogers, who was Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs in the mid-1970s. He said he had not decided whether to sign the letter.
The letter said that by backing the plan, Mr Bush had tossed away the rights of three million Palestinians.
They said Mr Bush had placed US diplomats, civilians and military overseas in an untenable and even dangerous position by pursuing an unbalanced Middle East policy.