Ann Wright on the Imperative of Dissent

Mar 24 2008 - 12:00pm
Mar 25 2008 - 9:00pm

Event Description:

Ann Wright, one of all too few public officials to resign in protest of the impending invasion and now occupation of Iraq, returns to Houston Monday, March 24 through Tuesday, March 25, to speak at the University of Houston, Brazos Books and the University of St. Thomas.

Her schedule is:
Noon, Monday, March 24 - University of Houston Law Center - Contact: Nicole
Eilan - escramble('nteilan','Central.UH.EDU');

7 p.m., Monday, March 24 - Brazos Bookstore - 2421 Bissonnet, Houston,
77005 - Contact: Claire 713-523-0701 or escramble('claire','brazosbookstore.com');

Ann's book - DISSENT: Voices of Conscience: Government Insiders Speak Out on
Iraq is now available at Brazos Bookstore and will be on sale at her reading
there and at her lecture the following evening at the University of St. Thomas.

7 p.m., Tuesday, March 25 - Anderson Hall, University of St. Thomas,
3913 Mt. Vernon, Houston, 77006 (on the Southeast side of the campus quadrangle with the Chapel of St. Basil on the north and Doherty Library on the south - see poster attached for campus map and parking details). Contact: Bill Cunningham - 713-525-3145.

While serving as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Mongolia, Ann Wright resigned on March 19, 2003, because she disagreed with the Bush administration’s decision to go to war in Iraq and growing restrictions upon civil liberties in the U.S. She was the highest-placed of several U. S. Foreign Service Officers to take this step.

Her book, co-authored with Susan Dixon, DISSENT: Voices of Conscience. Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq was published by Koa Press, Kihei, Hawaii in January of this year. It tells her story and that of other civilian government officials and military officers who have followed her example.

ANN WRIGHT

As military officer and diplomat Colonel (Ret.) Ann Wright served the United States repeatedly in crisis assignments on three continents during the last thirty years. She was Deputy Chief of Mission in four U.S. Embassies: Mi-cronesia, Sierra Leone during the 1994 civil war; Afghanistan in 2001 - 2002; and in Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia. She also was assigned to Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Secretary Albright presented Ann Wright the Department of State’s Award for Heroism for her successful management of the largest (2500) post-Vietnam evacuation of civilians from Sierra Leone during the violent coup there.

Colonel Wright, who is airborne qualified, was assigned primarily to spe-cial operations units during a combined 26 year regular Army/Army Reserve service. She was executive officer of the only active duty Civil Affairs (civil re-construction) unit in the US Army. In 1983-1984 he was a member of the 18th Airborne Corps international law team in Grenada that settled property claims arising from military operations there. From 1985-87, Wright commanded the US Southern Command’s Civic Action and Humanitarian Assistance office set up to coordinate large civil construction projects in Honduras.

Colonel Wright earned Master’s and Law Degrees from the University of Arkansas and a Master’s Degree in National Security Affairs from the US Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. She taught Special Forces and 82nd Air-borne units at the JFK School of International Studies at Fort Bragg, NC, on the responsibilities of occupying powers detailed in the Law of Land Warfare and the Geneva Conventions. In 1993-94 she was director of a United Nations Op-eration in Somalia (UNOSOM) office set up to reconstruct the justice system there. She concurrently oversaw more than 10,000 Somali police returning to work, and the creation of 8 courts and 4 prisons.

Event Sponsor:
Multiple

Event Fee:
Free and open to the public.


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