A former United States colonel in Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, and Mongolia who quit her job over her disagreement with the president’s decision to invade Iraq, said in a lecture today that she wants military and civilians alike to hold their leaders responsible for unethical decisions.

“Sadly, I believe in the last six years we have had a situation where the ethical basis of the military and the CIA have been brutally undercut,” Colonel Mary Ann Wright told an audience in the Hinde Auditorium.

Wright resigned from the United States Foreign Service in 2003 after working 16 years as diplomat and 29 years in the military, because she said she could no longer represent the government due to its involvement in a war of crime in Iraq.

One of her objections to the current administration’s ethics is that of more than 700 prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, only one prisoner was tried and convicted of crimes.

Wright traveled with a delegation of 15 to Cuba to protest the treatment of these prisoners.

“We’ve had a congress that has been complacent in unlawful actions,” she said. “We can bring people to the brink of death and not call it torture.”

Wright has co-authored a book, “Dissent: Voices of Conscience,” which was supposed to be published last month. Because she wrote about her diplomatic work, she had to submit it to the government to make sure she is not publishing classified information. She said this process has taken a month and a half longer than was promised.

The former colonel has served in the government since the 1960s.

“When you speak out, you know what will happen to you. You will be court-martialed. But what is more important? Your soul, your conscience, your sanity.”

Wright’s presentation was the first in a series of events by the Center for Practical and Professional Ethics. The next presentation will be on Oct. 29 at 10 a.m. in the Hinde Auditorium of the University Union.

Lacey Waymire can be reached at [email protected].