California Conservative

Cindy Sheehan’s Thanksgiving circus tent in Crawford is up.

The AP’s Angela Brown reports: “More than a dozen war protesters returned to a roadside near President Bush’s ranch before dawn Wednesday, defying two new local bans on roadside camping and parking.

About an hour after the group pitched tents and huddled in sleeping bags and blankets, a McLennan County sheriff’s deputy arrived and warned the group to leave or face arrest.”

“Protester and former U.S. diplomat Ann Wright told the deputy that most of the group would stay because they believed the bans restrict their free-speech rights. The deputy said the group would have two more warnings before he started making arrests.”

Here’s what I found out about Ann Wright after Googling her name:

Mary A. Wright’s Resignation Letter

The following is a copy of Mary (Ann) Wright’s letter of resignation to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Wright was most recently the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. She helped open the U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, in January 2002.

U.S. Embassy
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
March 19, 2003

Secretary of State Colin Powell
US Department of State
Washington, DC 20521

Dear Secretary Powell:

When I last saw you in Kabul in January, 2002 you arrived to officially open the US Embassy that I had helped reestablish in December, 2001 as the first political officer. At that time I could not have imagined that I would be writing a year later to resign from the Foreign Service because of US policies. All my adult life I have been in service to the United States. I have been a diplomat for fifteen years and the Deputy Chief of Mission in our Embassies in Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan (briefly) and Mongolia. I have also had assignments in Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Grenada and Nicaragua. I received the State Department’s Award for Heroism as Charge d’Affaires during the evacuation of Sierra Leone in 1997. I was 26 years in the US Army/Army Reserves and participated in civil reconstruction projects after military operations in Grenada, Panama and Somalia. I attained the rank of Colonel during my military service.

This is the only time in my many years serving America that I have felt I cannot represent the policies of an Administration of the United States. I disagree with the Administration’s policies on Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, North Korea and curtailment of civil liberties in the U.S. itself. 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.

In other words, she’d likely agree with most of what Larry Wilkerson has said. It isn’t a huge stretch to think that Ms. Wright is a lifelong Democrat because this paragraph sounds like a complete recitation of the Democrats’ talking points.

I hope you will bear with my explanation of why I must resign. After thirty years of service to my country, my decision to resign is a huge step and I want to be clear in my reasons why I must do so.

“I disagree with the Administration’s policies on Iraq”

…I believe we should not use US military force without UNSC agreement to ensure compliance. In our press for military action now, we have created deep chasms in the international community and in important international organizations. Our policies have alienated many of our allies and created ill will in much of the world.

Blah, blah, blah. Most importantly, our policies have created a second democracy in the heart of the Middle East. Yes, people weren’t initially supportive but President Bush’s and Prime Minister Blair’s decision have proven to be the right policy.

Further, if freeing people and establishing a vibrant democracy causes “ill will in much of the world”, then we’ll deal with it. Given the choice between avoiding creating “ill will in much of the world” or creating a democracy in Iraq, I’ll create the democracy first, then work at smoothing relations over later.

I strongly believe the probable response of many Arabs of the region and Moslems of the world if the US enters Iraq without UNSC agreement will result in actions extraordinarily dangerous to America and Americans. Military action now without UNSC agreement is much more dangerous for America and the world than allowing the UN weapons inspections to proceed and subsequently taking UNSC authorized action if warranted.

As history played out, we can see that Ms. Wright’s worries didn’t happen. Instead, the famed ‘Arab Street’ are protesting Zarqawi and his terrorists for killing Arabs. While she couldn’t have known that Iraqis would show up at the polls on Jan. 30, 2005, it shouldn’t have been that big a stretch to think that people love freedom.

I strongly urge the Department of State to attempt again to stop the policy that is leading us to military action in Iraq without UNSC agreement. Timing is everything and this is not yet the time for military action.

Think of what Ms. Wright is advocating. She’s just called on Colin Powell to get President Bush to abandon the settled U.S. policy of regime change in Iraq because it isn’t “the time for military action.” Obviously, Ms. Wright doesn’t think that 12 years and 16 other UNSC resolutions is enough time for Saddam to change.

Here’s a link to her speech to the O’ahu County Democrats. Trust me when I say that this is must reading, especially the section of her speech titled “15 Months Later”.

I also found this quote “Ms. Wright was one of the many high ranking officials critical of the Iraq war interviewed in the MoveOn / Robert Greenwald Film “Uncovered: The War On Iraq .” at this link.

In short, it sounds like Ms. Wright is Cindy Sheehan’s kind of “peace protester.”

UPDATE:
Political Teen has video of arrests

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRing

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 23rd, 2005 at 10:48 am and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Foreign Policy, Iraq, Military, Terrorism, U.N.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.