U.S. Mongolian Diplomat Resigns Over Iraq

Thu Mar 27, 4:35 AM ET Add White House - AP Cabinet & State to My Yahoo!



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 (news - web sites) and U.S. policy toward the Middle East and North Korea (news - web sites).





Latest news:

· Bush, Blair Vow to Keep Forces in Iraq

AP - 9 minutes ago

· U.S. to Intensify Attacks on Iraqi Forces

AP - 35 minutes ago

· Allies Step Up Bombing Raids Over Iraq

AP - 45 minutes ago

Special Coverage







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 (news - web sites).



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.