“I believe the Administration's policies are making the world a more dangerous, not a safer, place… I feel obligated morally and professionally to set out my very deep and firm concerns on these policies and to resign from government service as I cannot defend or implement them.”

From Ms. Wright's resignation letter, sent to Secretary of State Colin Powell and dated March 19, 2003

Position: Foreign Service Diplomat in Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Grenada and Nicaragua
Tenure: 1987 to 2003

From dedicated career diplomat and Colonel in the U.S. Army to a mover and shaker at Camp Casey—where activists camped out in front of President Bush's ranch in protest of the Iraq War—Ann Wright throws her heart and soul into her work.

Wright served the U.S. government in some of the most isolated and dangerous parts of the world. She was on the team that reopened the embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan in December, 2001, following the war there. She worked in Afghanistan for five months and served the last month as Deputy Chief of Mission. Wright had previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission in U.S. embassies in Sierra Leone, Micronesia, and Mongolia and had embassy assignments in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Grenada, Micronesia and Nicaragua. She received the State Department's Award for Heroism as Charge d'Affaires during the evacuation of Sierra Leone in 1997. Her 26 years in the U.S. Army/Army Reserves were primarily in special operations units and she participated in civil reconstruction projects after military operations in Grenada, Panama and Somalia.

Wright, the third high-ranking U.S. diplomat to resign from foreign service out of opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, did not want to leave diplomatic service. She observed first-hand the efforts to pressure the Mongolian government to join the U.S. led coalition in the attack on Iraq. Wright had disagreed with the policies of her government on previous occasions, but the Iraq war was more than her conscience could tolerate. She resigned March 19, 2003, the day the war started.

Since her resignation from diplomatic service, Wright has traveled around the country sharing her concerns about the course the U.S. government has taken. In addition to overseeing the organization of "Camp Casey" in Crawford, Texas, Wright protested an appearance by Condoleezza Rice before a Senate Committee hearing and was arrested on Sept. 26, 2005 in front of the White House while protesting with Cindy Sheehan, the Gold Star mom who has become a rallying point for the anti-war movement. On July 4, 2006 Ann Wright and other activists began a hunger strike outside the White House, demanding that the U.S. withdraw troops from Iraq.