Ann Wright Mary Ann Wright ( born 1947 ) is a former United States Army colonel and retired U . S . State Department official , known for her outspoken opposition to the Iraq War . She received the State Department Award for Heroism in 1997 , after helping to evacuate several thousand people during the civil war in Sierra Leone . She is most noted for having been 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 flotilla . Early life . Wright grew up in Bentonville , Arkansas , in what she referred to as " just a normal childhood " . She attended the University of Arkansas , where she earned master ' s and law degrees , before entering the U . S . Army . U . S . Army . Wright earned a Master ' s Degree in National Security Affairs from the U . S . Naval War College in Newport , Rhode Island and later participated in reconstruction efforts after U . S . military actions in Grenada and Somalia . Wright was stationed at Fort Bragg , North Carolina , from 1982 to 1984 . One of her duties during that time was to draw up contingency plans for invading several countries , one of which was Iraq . She would later express dismay over what she considered the dismissal of such carefully laid plans in the actual invasion of Iraq in 2003 . 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 ( which she helped open following the 2001 U . S . invasion of Afghanistan , an assignment she volunteered for ) , Sierra Leone ( an embassy which she helped close and then reopen again ) , Micronesia and Mongolia , and also served at U . S . embassies in Uzbekistan ( which she helped open ) , Kyrgyzstan , Grenada , and Nicaragua . 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 bombing tactics waged in Somalia , in the effort to kill rebel leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid . Wright also says that she " held her nose " on multiple occasions , continuing her State Department work despite her own disagreements with the policy . Resignation . Wright submitted her resignation letter to then U . S . Secretary of State Colin Powell 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 : 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 . Since her retirement from the State Department , Wright has become a prominent figure in the movement opposed to the occupation of Iraq . She has attended many conferences and given numerous lectures on her political views and on her experiences before and after her resignation . Wright has worked with anti - war activist Cindy Sheehan on several occasions , 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 , the Veterans For Peace shelter for Hurricane Katrina victims in Covington , Louisiana , during the bus tour . Wright has willingly been arrested while taking part in anti - war demonstrations , the first such arrest occurring in front of the White House 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 ! " Wright was uneventfully escorted out of the hearing room . Wright served as one of five judges at the January 2006 sessions of the International Commission of Inquiry On Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration . She was also one of three recipients of the first annual Truthout Freedom and Democracy Awards . 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 and international law . 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 by the United States . That evening Wright appeared on The O ' Reilly Factor to discuss the Geneva Conventions and how they applied to Iran in its taking of 15 British hostages . The discussion grew heated , and Wright stated that she had served 29 years in the military . During the course of the exchange , O ' Reilly cut off her microphone . 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 Congressmember Dana Rohrabacher . On September 11 , 2007 , Wright was arrested , and later convicted , for disrupting a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing at which general David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker 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 watchlist due to arrests related to their anti - war activism . In December 2008 , Wright has recently expressed her dissatisfaction with the current U . S foreign policy toward Palestine . In 2009 Wright began work as a leading member of the steering committee for the Gaza Freedom March . Gaza flotilla . On June 3 , 2010 Wright was interviewed by Democracy Now ! She was on the Challenger 1 , and observed 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 . " While on tour afterwards , she claimed that she had witnessed the " murder [ of ] nine innocent civilians " . However , in an interview with Aaron Lerner of IMRA , she acknowledged that she did not actually see the clash between the IDF soldiers and the armed passengers on board the Mavi Marmara . In fact , it was dark outside because it was pre - dawn , and she was on another ship , the Challenger , which was about 150 yards away from the Marmara . Wright was one of five activists who offered themselves up for arrest in 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 terrorist attacks 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 had signed a Letter to Congress , criticizing the Commission report 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 forward by longtime anti - war activist Daniel Ellsberg , who leaked the top - secret Pentagon Papers in 1971 .