Mary Ann Wright (born 1947) is a retired
United States Army colonel and retired U.S.
State Department official, known for her outspoken opposition to the
Iraq War
The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...
. She received the State Department
Award for Heroism in 1997, after helping to evacuate several thousand people during the
civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
in
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...
.
Wright was one of three State Department officials to publicly resign in direct protest of the
2003 Invasion of Iraq.
Wright was also a passenger on the ''Challenger 1'', which along with the ''
Mavi Marmara'', was part of the
Gaza Freedom Flotilla. As of 2024, she is a member of
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.
Early life and education
Wright grew up in
Bentonville, Arkansas
Bentonville is a city in and the county seat of Benton County, Arkansas, United States. The city is centrally located in the county with Rogers, Arkansas, Rogers adjacent to the east. The city proper had a population of 54,164 at the 2020 Unite ...
, in what she referred to as "just a normal childhood". She attended the
University of Arkansas, where she was recruited in the
U.S. Army.
Wright earned a master's degree from the
Naval War College
The Naval War College (NWC or NAVWARCOL) is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associa ...
and a
J.D. degree from the University of Arkansas while working for the U.S. Army.
Career

Wright participated in reconstruction efforts after U.S. military actions in
Grenada
Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...
and
Somalia
Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
.
Wright went on to serve 13 years in active duty in the U.S. Army, and 16 years in the
Army Reserves, rising to the rank of colonel. She was placed in the
Retired Ready Reserve, meaning the
President could call her back to active duty in a time of need.
U.S. State Department
In 1987, Wright went to work for the
Foreign Service within the U.S. State Department. Over the course of her State Department career, Wright served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassies in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
(which she helped open following the 2001
U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, an assignment she volunteered for),
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...
(an embassy which she helped close and then reopen again),
Micronesia and
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...
, and also served at U.S. embassies in
Uzbekistan
, image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg
, image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg
, symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem
, national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...
, which she helped open,
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...
,
Grenada
Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...
, and
Nicaragua
Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
.
Wright's eventual resignation was not the first time she had spoken out against policy. In an interview, Wright said that she spoke out against
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
bombing tactics waged in
Somalia
Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
in the effort to kill rebel leader
Mohamed Farrah Aidid. Wright also said that she repeatedly disagreed with policy on multiple occasions but continued her work at the State Department.
Resignation
Wright submitted her resignation letter to then
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell ( ; – ) was an Americans, American diplomat, and army officer who was the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African-American to hold the office. He was the 15th National Security ...
on March 19, 2003, the day before the onset of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Her letter was published on the internet the following day.
In her resignation letter, Wright listed four reasons she could no longer work for the U.S. government under the
Bush administration:
* The decision to invade Iraq without the blessing of the
U.N. Security Council
* The "lack of effort" in the
Israeli-Palestinian peace process
* The "lack of policy" in regard to
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
* The curtailment of civil liberties within the United States.
Wright was the third of three State Department officials to retire from service in protest in the month prior to the invasion of Iraq, the other two being
Brady Kiesling and
John H. Brown. Wright says that she did not know the other two, and had not read their resignation letters at the time she submitted her own.
Peace activism
After her retirement from the State Department, Wright became an outspoken figure in the
movement opposed to the occupation of Iraq and other anti-war movements.
Wright worked with anti-war activist
Cindy Sheehan, most notably by helping organize the
Camp Casey demonstration outside George W. Bush's
Crawford, Texas, ranch in August 2005, and by accompanying the southern leg of the
Bring Them Home Now bus tour. She also volunteered at Camp Casey 3, started by
Desert storm Veteran Dennis Kyne and
Veterans for Peace days after
Hurricane Katrina. She marched with Sheehan in 2006 with the Women Say No to War campaign, which was meant to deliver a petition with over 60,000 signatures of citizens against the war.
Wright has willingly been arrested while taking part in anti-war demonstrations, the first such arrest occurring in front of the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
on September 26, 2005. She has said in interviews that she does not remove the arrest bracelets attached to her wrists upon the processing of her arrest, but rather collects them.
On October 19, 2005, Wright interrupted a
Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, shouting at
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, "Stop the war! Stop the killing!", after which she was escorted out of the hearing room.
In January 2006, Wright served as one of five judges at the second session of the International Commission of Inquiry On Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration, a project organized by the organization
Not in Our Name.
Wright was one of three witnesses called to testify at an
Article 32 hearing on behalf of U.S. Army Lt.
Ehren Watada, who on June 22, 2006 refused to deploy to Iraq with his unit, asserting that the war violates both the
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...
and
international law
International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...
. Both Wright and Watada were two of the three recipients of the first annual
Truthout
Truthout is an American Nonprofit organization, non-profit Progressivism in the United States, progressive news organization which describes itself as "dedicated to providing independent reporting and commentary on a diverse range of social just ...
Freedom and Democracy Awards in February 2007.
On March 30, 2007 Wright appeared on the TV show ''
The O'Reilly Factor'' to discuss the
Geneva Conventions and how they applied to
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
in its taking of 15 British hostages. The discussion grew heated, and during the course of the exchange, O'Reilly questioned Wright's patriotism. When she pointed out she had served 29 years in the military and O'Reilly had never served at all her microphone was cut off.
On April 1, 2007 Wright was cited, along with 38 other
anti-nuclear activists, for trespassing at the
Nevada Test Site during a
Nevada Desert Experience event protesting against the continued development of
nuclear weapons
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission, fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion, fusion reactions (thermonuclear weap ...
by the United States.
On April 17, 2007, Wright attended a hearing of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee. She was ejected from the hearing room after speaking out of turn in response to comments made by Republican Congressman
Dana Rohrabacher. On September 11, 2007, Wright was arrested, and later convicted, for disrupting a
Senate Armed Services Committee hearing at which U.S. general
David Petraeus and ambassador to Iraq
Ryan Crocker
Ryan Clark Crocker (born June 19, 1949) is a retired American diplomat who served as a career ambassador within the United States Foreign Service. A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he served as United States ambassador to Afg ...
were testifying.
Wright took part in a September 15, 2007 protest march and
die-in on the steps of the
United States Capitol Building, organized by the
ANSWER Coalition and
Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). She was arrested for stepping over the wall after several IVAW and
Veterans for Peace members were arrested.
On October 3, 2007, Wright and
Code Pink activist
Medea Benjamin were denied entry to Canada because their names appear on an
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
database, called the
National Crime Information Center, due to arrests related to their anti-war activism.
Wright and Benjamin were told that if they wish to enter Canada in the future, they will have to apply for resident's permits.
In regards to the incident, a Canadian MP,
Olivia Chow, was "alarmed to learn that Canadian border police are enforcinig rules that have been determined by the FBI and other U.S.-based agencies."
In December 2008, Wright expressed her dissatisfaction with U.S foreign policy toward Palestine.
In 2009 Wright began work as a leading member of the steering committee for the
Gaza Freedom March.
In August 2014 she was among the signatories of an open letter to German Chancellor
Angela Merkel by the group
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity in which they urged the Chancellor to be suspicious of U.S. intelligence regarding the alleged invasion of Russia in Eastern Ukraine.
In 2017, Wright was awarded
The US Peace Prize by the
US Peace Memorial Foundation “for courageous antiwar activism, inspirational peace leadership, and selfless citizen diplomacy.”
On October 31, 2023, Code Pink opposed US support for
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
following the
Hamas
The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...
attacks of October 7. The group repeatedly disrupted Secretary of State
Antony Blinken's testimony to a Senate hearing on Israel aid from the United States, with protesters calling for a ceasefire. Several peace activists were arrested, including Wright and activist David Barrows.
Gaza flotilla
Wright was on board the Challenger 1, a vessel that was part of the first
Gaza Freedom Flotilla, organized by the
Free Gaza Movement, which was raided by Israel on 30 May 2010. On June 3, 2010 Wright was interviewed by ''
Democracy Now!'' and described observing the Israeli soldiers rappeling down from helicopters onto the deck of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara. Her own ship was boarded. "Flash bangs were used. One of our journalists was hit with something of an electric shock. I don’t know that it was a taser."
Subsequently, on 10 June 2010, Wright was one of five activists who offered themselves up for arrest in
California Rep. Brad Sherman's office after he made a public statement that any American who provides humanitarian aid to Gaza should be prosecuted under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. No arrests were made.
September 11th attacks and the 9/11 Commission report
In a 2007 interview on the
Air America Radio network, Wright described the ''
9/11 Commission Report'' on the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
as "totally inadequate", adding that she does not understand why the US national intelligence and defense operations completely failed and how the Pentagon could be hit on 9/11.
Earlier, in 2004, she signed a letter to Congress, criticizing the
9/11 Commission for serious shortcomings and omissions, which according to the signatories renders the report flawed and casts doubt on the validity of its recommendations.
Writings
In 2008,
Koa Books published ''Dissent: Voices of Conscience,'' co-authored by Ann Wright and Susan Dixon. Subtitled ''Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq'', the work includes a foreword by longtime anti-war activist
Daniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg (April 7, 1931June 16, 2023) was an American political activist, economist, and United States military analyst. While employed by the RAND Corporation, he precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released th ...
, who leaked the top-secret
Pentagon Papers in 1971.
Quotes
* “Refusing to participate in military operations that violate international law -- the war of aggression, the use of torture, the use of illegal weapons and purposeful targeting of innocent civilians will save Lt. Watada his sanity and his soul.”
Payday
See also
* Ehren Watada – former US Army Officer who opposed the Iraq War
The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...
* List of peace activists
References
External links
Ann Wright's letter of resignation
Ann Wright at usmvaw.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Ann
1947 births
Living people
21st-century American women writers
American anti–Iraq War activists
American anti–nuclear weapons activists
Diplomats for the United States
American political writers
Naval War College alumni
People from Bentonville, Arkansas
United States Army colonels
University of Arkansas alumni
Women in 21st-century warfare
Female United States Army officers
Women diplomats for the United States
American women non-fiction writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers