Prominent Peace Activist to Speak at Kapa‘a Library Friday

Ann Wright

Retired Army Colonel and Foreign Service diplomat Ann Wright will give a free talk at the Kapa‘a Library Friday, June 7 from 6-8 p.m.

Wright quit her post in 2003 to protest the Iraq War and subsequently has become a prominent peace activist. She has participated in peace actions in Gaza, Iran, North Korea and many places where U.S. government involvement affects our lives here on Kaua‘i.

On March 19, 2003 Wright submitted her resignation letter to then U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, the day before the onset of the 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
• 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.

This is a Free Event. Call 822 7646 for more information.