In February he made headlines when he publicly resigned in protest over the war in Iraq. At the time he was political counselor in the U.S. Embassy in Athens. His postings included Morocco, Armenia, Israel and Greece. In 1994 Kiesling was one of a group of foreign service professionals presented with the Rivkin Award, given by the American Foreign Service Association for constructive dissent. Kiesling was also a member of the group of State Department officials that pushed for intervention in Bosnia.
She is on the steering committee of the group International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism). The group organized last Saturday's peace rally in Washington, D.C.
He is a former congressman and now general secretary of the National Council of Churches, and a United Methodist minister. He is also co-chair of the Win Without War coalition. Last year he led a delegation of clergy and lay leaders to visit Iraq.