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Dissent: Voices of Conscience | 
| Authors: Ann Wright, Susan Dixon
Publisher: Koa Books
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
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Rating:  7 reviews
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 278
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.6
ISBN: 0977333841
Dewey Decimal Number: 956.70443
EAN: 9780977333844
ASIN: 0977333841
Publication Date: January 15, 2008
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Book Description
During the run-up to war in Iraq, Army Colonel (Ret.) and diplomat Ann Wright resigned her State Department post in protest. Wright, who had spent 19 years in the military and 16 years in diplomatic service, was one among dozens of govern-ment insiders and active-duty military personnel who spoke out, resigned, leaked documents, or refused to deploy in protest of government actions they felt were illegal. In Dissent: Voices of Conscience, Ann Wright and Susan Dixon tell the stories of these men and women, who risked careers, reputations, and even freedom out of loyalty to the Constitution and the rule of law.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Read and despair August 25, 2008
AvgMom2 (Long Island, NY)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book was very, VERY, hard to read, not because it was technical or dry, but because of the content of the book. I had to stop reading it numerous times because I found myself getting too angry or too upset to continue. This book is for those people who want to know how we end up in Iraq after 9/11 from someone who was there. How did we end up going after al Qaeda in Afghanistan to Iraq? How did the Bush Administration convinced the public that Iraq had weapon of mass destruction (WMD), even though US (under Bush, Sr.) and NATO had put the region under heavy military surveillence and also with trade embargo in place (with special emphasis on machinery parts)? You need to read the book to find out. We owe it to the 4,146 US soldiers who died (as of today) and thousands of Iraqi citizens who were killed or displaced. Reading this book is not being unpatriotic, but it is to find out how a gov't can very easily manipulate policies and use the power for its own agenda. This book should be a required reading for all the college students studying gov't corruptions. This episode may go down in history as one of the biggest HOAX any gov't had ever played on its people.
Profiles in Conscience May 26, 2008
Scott gru-Bell (Fort Mill, SC, USA)
Everyone who felt inpired by John F. Kennedy's book, "Profiles in Courage", or John McCain's "Character is Destiny" will find "Dissent: Voices of Conscience" to be a most worthy sequel. Although all those persons presented are Iraq War dissidents, the real issue is not the Iraq War, or even war in general. Rather it is the recognition of humanity's noblest pursuit - the personal courage to stand by one's conscience, come what may.
Character matters. Honor matters. Integrity matters. The reader who agrees with these sentences will find this book inspiring and reinforcing of one's own pursuit of inner greatness in the midst of overwhelming criticism and negative consequences.
Whether the reader is for the Iraq War or against it, this book will allow the reader to conjure up in the mind others who have shown great courage and self-sacrifice for a noble cause.
As the author of two books, "Christian Chess" and "Early Maxims and Aphorisms", I am very impressed with the authors' consistently high quality of writing style, documentation, and breath of topic. I eagerly await future sequels to this book.
Those against the Iraq War should seriously consider introducing this book to elected officials, whether state legislators or Members of Congress. Those in favor of the war should bring it to the attention of pastors and friends.
Good people can differ on perceptions of the rightness or wrongness of a war or any policy. Most, however, will agree in the rock-solid principles of being men and women of conscience.
 Bringing the Truth to Light May 7, 2008
Edwin C. Pauzer (New York City)
92 out of 108 found this review helpful
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President or that we are to stand by the President right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
Theodore Roosevelt, May 7, 1918.
"Dissent: Voices of Conscience" is about people who have witnessed first hand the deceit and deception on the part of the Bush administration and how they carefully crafted intelligence to fit their plan to invade Iraq. For those who don't know, they were planning to do so from before Inauguration Day 2001. September 11th gave them all the excuse they needed to hatch the plan.
The voices were people in our government who were privy to illegal and immoral acts that were being committed in violation of our Constitutional rights, and in the name of security. They were FBI agents, justice department attorneys, diplomats, and active duty military who witnessed the tortures, the propaganda, and the eavesdropping on American citizens for political purposes rather than for national security. There is also an extensive list of generals and admirals who have spoken out against our policies, and have written Congress and the President.
What really surprised me was what I didn't know because the "mainstream-drive-by-left-leaning" press did not report it here, or else they gave it very little play. It was the outright collusion of British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and Australian Prime Minister, John Howard who was censured by the Australian Senate in October 2003, for misleading the public in justifying sending troops off to war with one senator even accusing Howard of unprecedented deceit. Numerous diplomats in Her Majesty's government spoke out, leaked information, resigned, or were arrested for following their consciences. These revelations almost brought down the Blair government, and Howard was defeated in the next election. Even the Danish prime minister, who was one of the first to volunteer his forces, denied intelligence information to his Parliament which would not have supported their participation.
One of the more disgusting revelations of this book was our silence over the barbarism that is occurring in Uzbekistan against its citizens by their brutal leader, Karimov. The U.S. while all for bringing democracy to Iraq turned a blind eye to the tortures that were occurring in that country so long as we had an air base for our operations. It didn't matter even when two people were actually boiled to death. We only spoke out about the human rights abuses AFTER that government honored a new agreement with Russia's Vladimir Putin who insisted that the US base and our operations be closed.
We also learn what kind of people these people really were. They weren't radicals, malcontents, or non-conformists. These were people who really believed in the system and its ideals. When the system was perverted by their superiors, they faced a moral dilemma. Most them were forced to resign or retire, or were demoted or transferred, in spite of statutory protections for whistle blowers that were ignored. Katherine Gunn, a translator for the British government leaked to the press that our government was eavesdropping on members of the U.N. Security Council to attempt to pressure them to go along with a U.S. sponsored resolution against Iraq. She readily admitted what she did. She was fired and arrested. The U.S. wanted her tried. The day of the trial, her Majesty's government dropped all charges. Her barrister made it clear that he would spill the beans on everything. The stories of Colleen Rowley (FBI agent, Minneapolis office), and Sible Edmonds (FBI translator) were particularly powerful and poignant.
Much of the book is a brief story about these voices of conscience, which was usually followed by their letters of resignation or whistle-blowing. While some of the letters were quite interesting, I began to pass by many of them. I was and still am in a moral quandary when I read about officers and enlisted who deserted or refused to deploy or fight because of policy. (Neither group gets to decide that). Nevertheless, the book is surprising in the new information I learned, and what people of conscience sacrificed to right wrongs and injustice, and bring the truth to light.
May 7, 2008--ninety years later.
It is 257 days and a wake-up until the Bush tyranny is over.
Additional References:
Cook, Robin, "The Point of Departure: Why One of Britain's Leading Politicians Resigned over Tony Blair's Decision to Go to War in Iraq."
Willmshurst, Elizabeth, "Rules of Engagement. Newspaper article in "The Guardian.
Short, Clare, "An Honorable Deception?: New Labour, Iraq and the Misuse of Power."
Carne, Ross, "Independent Diplomat: Dispatches from an Unaccountable Elite."
"The Butler Inquiry."
Murray, Craig, "Murder in Samarkand." 2006 in the United Kingdom
"Axis of Deceit: The Story of the Intelligence Officer Who Risked All to Tell the Truth About WMD and Iraq."
Alford, C. Fred, "Whistleblowers: Broken Lives and Organizational Power."
Radack, Jesselyn, "The Canary in the Coalmine: Blowing the Whistle in the Case of `American Taliban' John Walker Lindh." Self-published, 2006
Edmonds, Sibel, www.JustACitizen.org. This lady was a translator for the FBI. She was fired in 2002 after she blew the whistle on the lack of proper supervision of supervisors and shoddy translation. She has been featured on "60 Minutes."
Zinni, Anthony, General (Ret.), "Battle Ready."
A Must Read for Anyone Who Cares About America, Peace and Truth April 1, 2008
ABF (Austin, TX USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Ann Wright presents stories of many who have taken courageous actions in disagreeing with their countries' actions in invading Iraq. Not the least of these is her own action in resigning from the US diplomatic corps after nearly 40 years of service to her country. This new way of service to the United States of America and all fellow/sister human beings is at least as powerful as all she has accomplished in a long and distinguished career as an Army officer and a diplomat.
A must read for everyone March 31, 2008
Betty Rubble (New York NY)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a great book and every American needs to read it now. We have had enough lies and deceit for the past seven years. Kudos to those who stand up and do the right thing.
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