Colonel who quit over Iraq war to speak in Bozeman
Soldier, diplomat, lawyer, author and dissident, US Army Colonel (Ret.) Ann Wright will speak at the (Bozeman Public Library on Friday, May 14 at 7 pm.)
The highest ranking U.S. Diplomat to resign over the Iraq war, Wright’s six-city speaking tour of Montana urges the end to U.S. wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.
Colonel Wright spent thirteen years in the U.S. Army and sixteen additional years in the Army Reserves. On March 19, 2003, the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Wright cabled a letter of resignation to Secretary of State Colin Powell, stating that without the authorization of the UN Security Council, the invasion and occupation of the sovereign oil-rich country would be a disaster. Since then, she has been writing and speaking out for peace.
Wright was one among dozens of government insiders and active-duty military personnel who resigned, spoke out, or refused to deploy in protest of government actions they felt were illegal. With Susan Dixon, she co-authored “Dissent: Voices of Conscience” (2008) to tell the stories of these men and women who risked careers, reputations, and even freedom out of loyalty to the Constitution and the rule of law. Copies of the book will be available for sale at each venue.
Wright will speak May 11 – 16 in Missoula, Helena, Butte, Bozeman, Livingston, and Billings to initiate discussion and engage local communities on any military topic from wars for oil to status of female soldiers, depleted uranium use and her insider view of US foreign and military policy.
Sponsors of the event include: Bozeman Peace Seekers, Bioregional Outreach Network, (Bozeman), Montana Women For (Livingston), Peace and Justice Forums (Billings), Billings Universalist Unitarian Fellowship, Industrial Workers of the World (Billings), Billings Friends Meetings, Helena Peace Seekers, Montana Peace Seekers Network, Butte Taking Action for Peaceful Solutions, Sacred Ground (Butte), Carroll College Hunthausen Center for Peace and Justice (Helena), Montana Progressive Democrats of America, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (Missoula), Billings Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, University Congregational Church (Missoula), Jeannette Rankin Peace Center Missoula), Montana Fellowship of Reconciliation, Montana Episcopal Peace Fellowship, and others.
Ann Wright Biography
Army Colonel, Foreign Diplomat, wrote in her 2003 resignation: “I have served my country for almost thirty years in some of the most isolated and dangerous parts of the world. I want to continue to serve America. However, I do not believe in the policies of this Administration and cannot — morally and professionally — defend or implement them. It is with heavy heart that I must end my service to America and therefore resign.”
She has been a career military woman, a U.S. State Department diplomat, and for the past few years an influential spokesperson in the anti-war movement. Ann Wright grew up in Bentonville, Arkansas, and attended the University of Arkansas, where she holds a Master’s and a Law Degree. She also has a Master’s Degree in National Security Affairs from the US Naval War College. In her junior year at the University of Arkansas, she attended a three-week Army training program after meeting with a visiting Army recruiter. That experience helped inform her decision to join the service.
There she would remain for 13 years in active duty, with another 16 years in the Army reserves, retiring as a Colonel. Part of her work was special operations in civil affairs, in the event of troop invasions into countries like Iraq. Ann helped to develop, as she explained, “plans about how you interact with the civilian population, how you protect the facilities – sewage, water, electrical grids, libraries … It’s our obligation under the law of land warfare.” Ann requested a release from active duty from the Army and joined the State Department. For the next 16 years, she served as a foreign diplomat in countries such as Nicaragua, Somalia, Uzbekistan, and Sierra Leone. She was on the team that reopened the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan in December, 2001, after the fall of the Taliban to US forces.
On March 13, 2003, the eve of the US invasion of Iraq, Col.. Ann Wright sent a letter of resignation to then Secretary of State Colin Powell. She felt that without the authorization of the UN Security Council, the US invasion and occupation of a Moslem, Arab oil-rich country would be a disaster. Only two other State Department officials resigned at that time over the imminent invasion. In an interview, Ann explained that, in Foreign Service, “Your job is to implement the policies of an administration…if you strongly disagree with any administration’s policies, and wish to speak out, your only option is to resign. I understood that and that’s one of the reasons I resigned – to give myself the freedom to talk out.”
Talk out she has. Since resigning, patriotism for Ann Wright has been as an anti-war activist. She worked with Cindy Sheehan organizing Camp Casey, and appeared in the documentary “Uncovered: The Truth About the Iraq War”. She travels and lectures on foreign policy issues. She has been arrested five times for protesting Bush’s policies, and has referred to herself cheerfully as a “felon for peace”. This retired Army Colonel has also recently been temporarily banned not only from two military bases for placing postcards there about a showing of the documentary “Sir, No Sir”, but from the US Capitol area (her case is still pending), and the National Press Club (this a lifetime ban), for voicing opinions and questions concerning Bush’s policies and the Iraq war.
Ann Wright Comments:
“I worked in the Federal government for 35 years, virtually my entire adult life– for eight U.S. presidential administrations, first as a military officer and later as a diplomat. I, like many of my fellow citizens, did not always agree with many of the policies of those administrations, but I always found some program that I could work on that I could feel proud of my efforts.
“However, with the Bush administration’s decision to invade and occupy Iraq, an oil-rich, Arab, Muslim country that had not threatened the United States and upon which the international community had imposed sanctions, a quarantine around the country and two no-fly zones above it, I decided that I had to resign as a public symbol of opposition to a war that I believed would not help U.S. national security, but would endanger it.
Some have asked why I did not resign in opposition to controversial policies of other administrations, such as the Reagan administration’s support for the Contras. It’s a good question. My answer is that each person is faced with issues of conscience at various times during one’s life. Each person interprets those issues in different ways and decides how to handle them in different ways. There were only three U.S. government officials who resigned in opposition to the Iraq war, but there were many, many employees who knew the war was wrong but continued to work for the government.”
.. More about Ann Wright and “DISSENT: Voices of Conscience. GOVERNMENT INSIDERS SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE WAR IN IRAQ” at:
http://www.voicesofconscience.com/
… Articles by Ann Wright (at Common Dreams News Center): http://www.commondreams.org/search/commondreams?cx=002299596031389324112%3Aodhtzdyi_ja&cof=FORID%3A9&query=Ann+Wright&op=Search&form_id=google_cse_results_searchbox_form#848