Wright served as a military officer for 29 years before entering the Foreign Service in 1987. She stayed with the Service for 16 years, until 2003, when she was one of three United States diplomats who resigned after the United States took military action against Iraq. Her reasons for leaving the service were based upon a personal disagreement with President George W. Bush's reasons for invading Iraq. After months of consideration, Wright concluded that the war was not based on necessary security concerns. "[The United States'] reasons for going to war had nothing to do with our national security," she said. "It had nothing to do with 9-11." Furthermore, she saw the war as confirming negative ideas about the U.S. "[The war was] fulfilling the dream of every person in the Middle East that did not like the United States in the first place," she said.
According to Wright, the U.S. entered the war unjustly. She claims that the weapons investigators in Iraq were not given enough time to do their job properly. Furthermore, she feels that Bush did not try hard enough to find a better solution than one which involved violence. "We should have been using diplomacy," she said. "If the international community thought war was appropriate, then through the Security Council they would have agreed to using military force."
In addition to objecting to war with Iraq, Wright felt that she had to resign because she felt that she could no longer represent an administration she thought was being untruthful to the American people. For Wright, the president's claim that Saddam Hussein was in possession of weapons of mass destruction was a complete lie. Wright believes that even if Hussein had been harboring weapons, he would have been smart enough not to use them. "Saddam Hussein knew full well that the use of any weapons of mass destruction would be followed by a slam on him by the international community," she said. "I didn't think he was that foolish."
When asked in the question and answer session what she believes may have been the President's motives for invading Iraq, Wright answered that Bush must have been seeking revenge on Hussein for trying to kill Bush's father. Wright also went on to say that she feels that oil has been the most influential driving force in the war. Her theory is that the Bush administration worked with Iraqi exiles in exchange for cheaper oil.
In order to end what she views as the dangers that come with war, Wright is calling for an immediate end to United States occupation in Iraq. "We need to put pressure on our government to end this war and end it now," she said. "The administration needs to have the courage to eat a little humble pie and maybe the way to handle this is for the United States to just back out. The war isn't helping anything." According to Wright, one of the greatest dangers our nation faces as a result of this war is the suffering of the military.
Wright concluded her lecture with final thoughts about the president. Wright told the audience that she believes the injustices Bush committed by entering into war with Iraq are grounds for impeachment. Wright insists that Bush is guilty of both deceiving the American people and threatening the United States' security. "I think leading us into economic destruction and threatening our national security is worthy of impeachment," she said.
Wright encouraged members of the audience to voice their concerns about the 2006 congressional elections. She asked the audience to put pressure on their congressmen by threatening not to vote for them unless they promise to work toward impeaching Bush.
Wright is currently a part of what she called "the whistle-blowers movement," an informal organization of politicians and citizens aimed at encouraging members of Congress to leak any top secret information they have regarding the way the administration has dealt with the events surrounding the terrorist attacks of Sept., 11, 2001, or the war in Iraq.