Colonel Ann Wright is a retired United States Army colonel and retired official of the U.S. State Department, known for her outspoken opposition to the Iraq War. She is most noted for having been one of three State Department officials to publicly resign in direct protest of the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. She was a passenger on the Challenger 1, who along with the Mavi Marmara were part of the Gaza flotilla. She landed in NYC on Friday, June 4, 2010 and is available immediately for interview. She will be in NYC through Tuesday evening, possibly later.

She was witness to the violence on the Mavi Marmara and has a unique perspective as a direct eye witness and a former US official—serving in an ambassadorial role to reopen the Afghan embassy in 2001. She made this statement today, "The murders of the 9 unarmed civilians and the wounding of 50 more on board unarmed civilian vessels carrying purely humanitarian supplies to Gaza were tragic and criminal acts.” She went on to detail the acts of nonviolence from those on the Mavi Marmara that were not documented by the IDF, “At one point, an IDF soldier repelled down onto the boat, was snagged and injured on one of the boat's mast poles and the passengers on the Mavi Marmara, under the direction of the captain, helped the soldier down and treated him with first aid and released him back to his unit. The resulting violence of the IDF was unnecessary.” She will continue to push the Obama administration to hold the Israeli government accountable for their illegal acts in international waters.