“There is no doubt Saddam Hussein is a despicable dictator,” Wright told Powell. But she believed U.S. military forces shouldn’t be used without Security Council compliance. “In our press for military action now, we have created deep chasms in the international community and in important international organizations,” Wright said. “America has lost the incredible sympathy [resulting from the Sept. 11 attacks] of most of the world because of our policy toward Iraq.”

Wright’s government career spanned the worlds of diplomacy and military affairs. She joined the Foreign Service in 1986, and asked to be assigned to a position as a Defense Department attaché. At the time, however, women weren’t allowed to hold those jobs.

In 1997, Wright managed the evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Sierra Leone and of Americans living there when a coup d’etat took place. She assisted in the evacuation of a number of diplomats from other countries, as well, and was given the State Department Award for Heroism for her work.
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Since sending her letter to Powell, Wright said she has received about 150 e-mails from Foreign Service officers around the world expressing support for her actions.

John Brown, a career diplomat who also resigned this month, has said there is an air of dissent in the State Department over the administration’s policies. But it’s rare that Foreign Service officers use public resignations as a means of protest, or an attempt to influence administration policy.

Nevertheless, the resignation of three senior diplomats is significant because the individuals had invested so many years climbing the ladder of the Foreign Service. ...