[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/10/24/intl.mann.obama.afghanistan/story.troops.afp.gi.jpg caption="U.S. troops on patrol in Paktika Province, Afghanistan"]
Ed Rollins
CNN Senior Political Contributor
Matthew Hoh, a young man previously unknown to the general public, has become the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war. He was the senior U.S. civilian adviser in Zabul province, Afghanistan.
There certainly have been more famous resignations over a president's war policy. President Lyndon Johnson's first secretary of health, education and welfare and the architect of much of the civil rights and Great Society programs, John Gardner, resigned because he could not support the war in Vietnam and privately told the president he could not support him for re-election.
LBJ's Deputy Secretary of Defense Cyrus Vance resigned after becoming convinced the war in Vietnam, which he had strongly supported initially, was unwinnable. After his resignation he unsuccessfully urged Johnson not to bomb North Vietnam.
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Filed under: Afghanistan • Ed Rollins |
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It's a shame Mr. Hoh has resigned,....but sadly his alter-language will swiftly get glossed over by the seemingly timely suspicious escalation of violence to warrant the very large 100% troop surge asked for by General McCrystal. Coincidence? He certainly will be vindicated in time,...but where he can be instrumental now is to get out publicly, and pose questions for the obfuscated myrmidon.