Another U.S. Diplomat Resigns Over Iraq, Civil Liberties

By MICHAEL KOHN, Associated Press Writer
ULAN BATOR, Mongolia - A senior diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Mongolia
has resigned in protest over Washington's decision to wage war in Iraq and
U.S. policy toward the Middle East and North Korea.

Ann Wright, who as deputy chief of mission was the embassy's
second-in-command, also criticized the "unnecessary curtailment of civil
rights" in the United States since Sept. 11.

"I believe the administration's policies are making the world a more
dangerous, not a safer, place," she said in a resignation letter addressed
to Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Wright said Thursday she sent the letter March 19, the day before the
U.S.- and British-led attack on Iraq began. She planned to leave Mongolia
in early April.

An embassy spokesman in Ulan Bator declined comment.

Wright, 56, is at least the second American diplomat to resign in protest
over policy toward Iraq. John Brady Kiesling, a political counselor at the
U.S. Embassy in Athens, stepped down March 7.

In her letter, Wright said that by taking military action without U.N.
Security Council backing, the United States could trigger a backlash in
the Arab world.

"This pre-emptive attack policy will ... provide justification for
individuals and groups to `pre-emptively attack' America and American
citizens," the letter says.

She also cited what she called the Bush administration's "lack of effort"
in trying to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its lack of
contacts with North Korea amid tensions over the North's nuclear program.
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