American policy in Iraq will come under renewed attack from within this week when 26 former diplomats and military officers issue a statement critical of the White House.
The statement echoes an attack last month by 53 former US diplomats who accused the Bush administration of sacrificing America's credibility in the Arab world - and the safety of its diplomats and soldiers - because of its support for the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon.
That in turn followed an open letter by 52 former British diplomats and government officials which was highly critical of Tony Blair, warning that his support for George Bush's policies in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was "doomed to failure".
The latest statement, which comes as the American presidential election prepares to go into full swing, will call for Mr Bush's defeat in November, according to sources who have seen it.
"Ever since Franklin Roosevelt the US has built up alliances in order to amplify its own power," one signatory, John Matlock, the ambassador to the Soviet Union under Ronald Reagan and the first George Bush, told the Los Angeles Times.
"But now we have alienated many of our closest allies, we have alienated their populations," he said. "We've all been increasingly appalled at how the relationships that we worked so hard to build up have simply been shattered by the current administration in the method it has gone about things."
The statement echoes an attack last month by 53 former US diplomats who accused the Bush administration of sacrificing America's credibility in the Arab world - and the safety of its diplomats and soldiers - because of its support for the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon.
That in turn followed an open letter by 52 former British diplomats and government officials which was highly critical of Tony Blair, warning that his support for George Bush's policies in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was "doomed to failure".
The latest statement, which comes as the American presidential election prepares to go into full swing, will call for Mr Bush's defeat in November, according to sources who have seen it.
"Ever since Franklin Roosevelt the US has built up alliances in order to amplify its own power," one signatory, John Matlock, the ambassador to the Soviet Union under Ronald Reagan and the first George Bush, told the Los Angeles Times.
"But now we have alienated many of our closest allies, we have alienated their populations," he said. "We've all been increasingly appalled at how the relationships that we worked so hard to build up have simply been shattered by the current administration in the method it has gone about things."
