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Ann Wright is a 29 year US Army/Army Reserves veteran who retired as a Colonel and a former US diplomat who resigned in March, 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq. She served in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia and Mongolia. In December, 2001 she was on the small team that reopened the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is the co-author of the book "Dissent: Voices of Conscience." (www.voicesofconscience.com). She has written frequently on rape in the military.
Saturday, December 17, 2011 The Trial of Bradley Manning -- Rule of Law or Rule of Intimidation, Retaliation, Retribution? (5 comments)
Until citizen activist protests six months ago in March 2011 brought sufficient attention to the harsh conditions of Manning's pre-trial confinement, the US military was treating him as if he were beyond the scrutiny of the law -- as if he were an "enemy combatant" in Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib.
Monday, December 12, 2011 U.S. Free Speech Hypocrisy (2 comments)
The 50-year U.S. condemnation of Cuba's human rights violations and the U.S. support for 64 years of the brutal Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians demonstrates solidly the hypocrisy of the United States government.
Thursday, December 8, 2011 Incredibly, Gaza Rebuilds Despite Israeli Land and Sea Blockade and Threats to Water, Electricity and Tax Revenues (1 comments)
Two weeks ago I returned to Gaza after an absence of 2.5 years. My last trip was in May, 2009, the third trip in 2009 following the Israeli attack on Gaza that killed 1440, wounded 5,000, and destroyed the homes of 50,000. Most of the construction materials for rebuilding Gaza are brought through tunnels under the Egyptian border.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011 Delegates Issue Appeal for the End of the Siege of Gaza--No US Congresspersons involved (1 comments)
This week, 70 delegates from 20 countries, including Parliamentarians from 11 countries, have seen the disastrous effects of the 22-day Israeli attack on Gaza two years ago and the five-year naval and land blockade on Gaza. The trip was organized by the Council for European Palestinian Relations.
Monday, November 21, 2011 Protests Fill Tahrir Square, Again (1 comments)
Last night after I finally got out of the Cairo airport after five hours of being detained upon my arrival, at least 32 had already been killed by the military around Tahrir Square with hundreds wounded. Tonight more have died as the police fired on protesters.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 Help Stop Destruction of Jeju Island's Pristine Volcanic Coastline for South Korean/US Naval Base
On November 18, 2011, the South Korean Navy will blast Gureombi, the smooth volcanic rock along the coastline of Gangjeong village of Jeju Island where the local people have been fighting day and night almost for five years to stop the naval base that will homeport naval vessels equipped with the American Aegis missile and will be a key link in the United States' Missile Defense System.
Monday, November 14, 2011 No Speedy Trial for Bradley Manning (4 comments)
The Bradley Manning Support Network is calling for friends and allies everywhere to remind important decision-makers in the military and State Department that Bradley Manning supporters and the world are watching how the United States treats US military personnel in pre-trial confinement.
Sunday, November 6, 2011 Israeli Hijacking Of Gaza Freedom Waves Boats "Violent And Dangerous" (6 comments)
Despite very clear protests from the occupants of the two boats that they did not want to be taken to Israel, they were forcibly removed from the boats in a violent manner.
Thursday, September 22, 2011 Women in War and Peace
PBS is taking an in-depth look at the role of women in war and peace beginning in October.
Thursday, September 15, 2011 Instead of attacking WikiLeaks, fix what it exposed (3 comments)
The entire edifice that allows the use of classification rests solely on the basis of executive orders that have been renewed and modified by various presidents. The ability to restrict information from the public is essentially an unchecked assertion of executive power.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011 U.S. Navy tells sailboat Captain sailing to USS Liberty attack site we cannot guarantee your safety against Israel (2 comments)
Many sailors and personnel assigned to the Sixth Fleet command will be horrified to know of the decision of their senior leaders that no active duty sailor would attend the memorial service for 34 of their fellow sailors killed and 174 wounded 44 years ago and that their command would not come to the aid of an American sailor who had sailed 8,000 miles to honor their own.
Thursday, August 25, 2011 Citizens Challenge Police to Prevent Construction of a Naval Base on Jeju Island, South Korea
The South Korean Navy wants to continue construction of a naval base for 18 ships and two submarines in an area that will destroy a pristine shoreline and endanger marine life. Local villagers and activists from the mainland of South Korea have struggled for five years to prevent the construction of the base.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011 Dangerous Voyage To Site of Israeli Attack on USS Liberty (4 comments)
Just this year the Israelis intercepted, boarded and impounded the French ship Dignite as it participated in Freedom Flotilla 2. That was done in international waters well clear of the coordinates provided by the Israelis for their blockade of Gaza and very near to the coordinates of the attack on the USS Liberty.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 Mocking the Gaza Flotilla (4 comments)
A small flotilla carrying human rights and peace activists to Israel-blockaded Gaza was itself blockaded in Greece after intense diplomatic pressure from Washington and Tel Aviv. But the Israeli news media continues to heap ridicule on the passengers.
Friday, June 17, 2011 Nobel Women's Initiative -- An Open Letter to Ban Ki Moon
Four women Nobel Peace Laureates -- Mairead Maguire, Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, and Rigoberta Menchú Tum -- have sent an open letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, asking him to reconsider his position and to "call on all governments to support the safe passage of the Freedom Flotilla II."
Thursday, June 9, 2011 "Lawfare" is the latest form of Israeli-AIPAC attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla (1 comments)
Force is not the way to stop worldwide condemnation of Israel's blockade of Gaza. The way to stop the flotilla is to end the naval blockade of Gaza. Until the blockade ends, Flotillas filled with citizens from around the world will continue to challenge Israeli's brutal policies and the United States complicity in them.
Friday, June 3, 2011 What is Irresponsible and Provocative -- Israel's Blockade of Gaza or The Gaza Flotilla? (1 comments)
We will continue to challenge Israel's impunity of acting beyond international law and will sail to Gaza until Israel ends its naval blockade of Gaza. We on the US Boat to Gaza have the audacity to hope that the United States will finally use its substantial economic leverage to convince Israel it is in its own security interest, as well as the security interest of the United States, to end the blockade of Gaza.
Sunday, May 29, 2011 The Gaza Freedom Flotilla-One Year Later and Another Flotilla on the Horizon
It is not too late for countries to put massive international pressure on Israel to end the blockade and determine how to address Israel's security concerns about ships entering the Gaza port. European Union inspectors were placed in the Rafah border crossing in 2006. A similar structure could be suggested for the port of Gaza.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 Arrests in U.S. Anti-Drone Protest
Pilots stationed at Hancock now fly Reaper drones remotely over Afghanistan. The drones are armed with Hellfire missiles and laser-guided bombs. Far more civilians, including many women and children, are killed than are "targeted" insurgents. Although the use of drones has enraged the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Obama administration has dramatically increased their use.
Thursday, April 14, 2011 The Israelis Mount a Diplomatic Offensive to Stop the Gaza Flotilla (3 comments)
The second Gaza Freedom Flotilla is scheduled to sail in late May with more ships and more passengers than the May, 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla that the Israelis attacked killing 9 passengers and wounding 50. Twenty-two countries have national campaigns to join the second flotilla.
Sunday, February 20, 2011 Class Action Lawsuit filed against the Pentagon (1 comments)
The 2009 report also acknowledged that retaliation against those who report rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment is widespread and that military personnel do not report rape and sexual assault because doing so is perceived as having "lasting career and security clearance repercussions."
Thursday, January 6, 2011 Obama: No Whistleblowing on My Watch (4 comments)
The U.S. military's treatment of Manning is tragically consistent with its treatment of persons detained in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo. America's military uses harsh conditions and torture to break the person to provide whatever information the military wants to receive.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010 Obama's Afghanistan War: Waist Deep in the Big Muddy and the Captain Says Push On (2 comments)
A perfect storm is developing against the American military in the Afghan/Pak theater as floods, drones, ongoing revelations of war crimes by exhausted and jaded troops as well as American trained death squads, hatred for Blackwater and its clones, Pashtun ambitions for a Pashtunistan and an America teetering on the edge of economic depression all continue to intensify the coming storm's ferocity.
Monday, September 27, 2010 Israel Calls Challenge to Blockade of Gaza a "provocative joke" (1 comments)
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, Andy David, described the "Irene's" mission as "a provocative joke that isn't funny." We say to Mr. David and the Israeli and US governments that these international citizen initiatives are not jokes and the only "provocative" issue, and it's not a joke, is the collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians by Israel and the international community.
Sunday, May 30, 2010 Life Aboard an International Activist Ship (4 comments)
There is nothing easy about planning or conducting an international action, especially with moving parts called ships! Yet, activists on board keep their spirits afloat! After delays caused by damaged propellers and broken steering mechanisms, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla now reduced to seven ships is heading for Gaza.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 Rape in the Ranks: The Enemy Within (10 comments)
Journalists Pascale Bourgaux and Mercedes Gallego in their trips to Iraq as war correspondents were stunned to hear from military women in Iraq that they should be very careful working in military units due to sexual assault and rape.
When they left Iraq they decided to investigate the issue of rape in the U.S. military. In 2007, they filmed the stories of four military women who had been raped and made a documentary,
Sunday, June 21, 2009 President Carter and Citizen Activists Witness Destruction in Gaza (1 comments)
Upon seeing the destruction of the American International School (one of seven schools completely destroyed in Gaza and 87 other schools severely damaged), Carter said "I have to hold back tears when I see the deliberate destruction that has been wreaked against your people," adding that he felt partly responsible because the school had been "deliberately destroyed by bombs from F-16s made in my country."
Tuesday, June 16, 2009 Israeli Police and Military Brutalize Peaceful Protesters at Netanyahu's Speech (3 comments)
Heavy handed police treatment of the CODEPINK: Women for Peace delegation began immediately after members of the group unfurled several pink banners that read "Free Gaza" and "End the Occupation." CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin and New York activist Zool Zulkowitz were physically dragged across the street from their original protest site next to the entrance gate to Bar Ilan University where audience members and press...
Saturday, May 2, 2009 Torture: An Author and a Resister (5 comments)
As a Bush administration political appointee Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice, Jay Bybee, a Mormon, wrote one of four torture memos released last month. In September 2003, another Mormon, a woman soldier, US Army Spc. Alyssa Peterson, said she refused to use the interrogation techniques that Bybee had authorized on Iraqi prisoners.
Saturday, March 21, 2009 From Three Decades as a Colonel and Diplomat to Six Years as a Peace Activist
Ann Wright attending international meeting in Guantanamo.
Ann Wright speaks at an international meeting calling for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba. The former US Army colonel and career diplomat resigned in opposition to the invasion of Iraq by the Bush administration six years ago.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008 Iranians Ponder Their Future With an Obama Administration (2 comments)
Codepink Women for Peace co-founders Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin, Fellowship of Reconciliation Iran program director Laila Zand and I were reminded in virtually every conversation that Iranians want peace with the United States, not war.
Sunday, July 20, 2008 The Costs of War: The Parents' Agony (5 comments)
Every day for a parent of a person in the United States military is a long day filled with concern for their daughter or son. Parents of nine US Army soldiers were notified of the deaths of their family members in Afghanistan this week. Three other lives - all former soldiers - reveal other costs of war, for them and for their families.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007 What Congress Really Approved: Benchmark No. 1: Privatizing Iraq's Oil for US Companies (4 comments)
We finally have the reason for the US invasion of Iraq: to get easily accessible, cheap, high-grade Iraq oil for US corporations.Now the choice is for US military personnel and their families to decide whether they want their loved ones to be physically and emotionally injured to protect not our national security,but the financial security of the biggest corporate barons left in our country - the oil companies.
Wednesday, January 3, 2007 Arrested on the Golden Gate Bridge for the 3,000 US Dead (1 comments)
On New Year's Day, sixty peace activists organized by Codepink Women for Peace gathered on both sides of the Golden Gate Bridge to walk across one of America's great landmarks in vigil for the 3,000 US servicemen and women killed in Iraq and for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have died since the US invasion and occupation.
