Colonel (ret.) Ann Wright visited Olympia yesterday for a series of presentations on Iraq, on official wrongdoing within government, and on her new book, which is published by Koa Books. Dissent, Voices of Conscience: Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq is co-authored by Ms. Wright and Susan Dixon. It chronicles the stories of about 25 government and military whistle-blowers who have come forward to expose corruption and wrongdoing in their respective professional settings.

Colonel Wright was a career diplomat with the US State Department. When the US Government, under the dictate of the Bush Administration, launched an invasion in Iraq she resigned her post (along with two other US diplomats.) I saw and listened to Ms. Wright give a presentation (on her experience vís a vís her professional career and Iraq) at South Puget Sound Community College. Her visit was sponsored by Washington Peace Action and BRICK (the SPSCC student group Building Revolution by Increasing Community Knowledge).

Earlier tonight I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Alice Rothchild speak at St. Martin's University. Dr. Rothchild spoke about her book, Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience. She also spoke about her experience traveling to Israel and Palestine, and her position on the conflict, as a Jew. She discussed the immoral nature of many aspects of the current occupation of historically Palestinian territory. The Doctor spoke of a moral obligation that people of all faiths (or lack thereof) and ethnic backgrounds, but especially Jews, have to speak out about the tragedy of violence, and the criminal policies of Israel, which are doing such grievous harm to both the Palestinian and the Israeli peoples.