PORT TOWNSEND — A retired colonel and diplomat who left government service in protest of the Iraq war will visit Port Townsend as part of a lecture tour of the Pacific Northwest.
Retired Col. Ann Wright will discuss how she thinks U.S. policy fosters insecurity in the Middle East when she speaks at 7 p.m. Monday at the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2333 San Juan Ave.
The presentation is free and open to the public.
Wright’s appearance is hosted by six local community groups, some of which supported the unsuccessful proposed boycott of Israeli goods by the Port Townsend Food Co-op. The co-op board voted against the proposal in September.
Wright, 64, enlisted in the Army during the Vietnam War “to get out of Arkansas” and build a career.
She said she was apolitical during her years of service, though she respected the rights of protesters to make their opinions known.
While she did not always agree with the decision of the commander-in-chief, she served without protest until 2003, when she resigned with a pension from the diplomatic corps “because the war was being waged for no reason against people who had nothing to do with 9/11 in an action that was not supported by the U.N. Security Council,” Wright said.
Wright now spends several months of each year on the road in speaking engagements.
Israel, she said, is “given a free pass” for its misdeeds by the American people and their government.
Wright said the current war in Afghanistan can be ended through negotiation and that pulling out U.S. troops is the first step toward achieving this.
She feels that the current financial crisis faced by the government has been exacerbated by military spending, which she said is 55 percent of the national budget.
“This is why we are losing many needed programs and why schools are shutting down,” she said.
“My goal is to inform the public and get them involved so they can force a change.”
This will be a difficult task, she said, since the United States has been involved in several foreign wars in the last century.
“We have invaded and occupied more countries than anyone else in the world over the last 100 years, and we continue to do this,” she said.
“I would like us to take all the money we spend on war and use it somewhere else.”
In addition to the evening appearance, Wright will address students at the Jefferson School at 10:30 a.m. and will be interviewed in the afternoon on public access channel PTTV’s “Jim Rough Show.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
