Actor-'patriot' Penn in Iraq (The Usual Hollyweird Suspects Blowing Hot Air, Again)

Washington Times ^ | 12/14/02 | Jennifer Harper

[kattracks]

Under the aegis of a media research group, actor Sean Penn arrived in Baghdad yesterday on a three-day visit to Iraq, declaring himself both patriot and investigator.

"I have the privileged opportunity to pursue a deeper understanding of this frightening conflict," Mr. Penn said in a statement. "I would hope that all Americans will embrace information available to them outside conventional channels.

[metesky]

Dwarf Tossers for Peace isn't listed.

[MissouriForBush]

The totally-biased, Leftist European media -- both print and TV -- are giving all these Hollywood idiots like Sean Penn lots of fawning press coverage. As an American in Europe, I am DISGUSTED by the behavior of idiots like Penn and Mike Farrell.

(And what has happened to Shelley Fabares?! She looked like a nightmare vision on TV at the actors' "Win Without War" press conference that got "star billing" on the news here. Her hair looked shredded with ugly chunks of "avant-garde" blood-red hair. It is the same cheap hair dye in vogue among morose German teens right now.)

I just wish more Americans would boycott the cinematic garbage produced by the Sean Penn, David Duchovny, Mike Farrell, etc. Let them pitch their programs to the Third-World dictators and tyrants they so obviously prefer.

[ChadGore]

< sigh > limo libs < shaking head >

[kitkat]

In 1979, a woman writer from NY State decided that she knew more than the State Department, and against their warnings, took off for Iran. It was in the midst of the Iran Hostage event that lasted for 444 days. The writer thought she could get the hostages released. She got involved in plot/counter plot and was taken prisoner along with the other hostages.

My point? Why do ordinary citizens think they know more than the State Department?

My second point? Maybe we'll get lucky and Sean Penn will stick his nose into something Iraq doesn't want known, and end up a prisoner. Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

[new cruelty]

'POISON' PENN IN IRAQ
Sat Dec 14, 6:32 AM ET
Entertainment - PageSix.com Gossip/Celeb

By BRIDGET HARRISON

Move over, "Hanoi Jane," here comes "Baghdad Sean."


The latest actor to turn self-styled peacenik, Sean Penn (news), arrived in Iraq for a three-day tour yesterday - claiming he wants to learn more about the "frightening" Iraq-U.S. crisis.


The former Hollywood bad boy started his personal fact-finding mission with a visit to a Baghdad children's hospital - and is set to meet Iraqi health officials today.


Penn - who in October shelled out $56,000 for an advertisement in The Washington Post accusing President Bush (news - web sites) of stifling debate over Iraq - said the purpose of his jaunt to Iraq is to "pursue a deeper understanding" of the conflict.


"I would hope that all Americans will embrace information available to them outside conventional channels," the 42-year-old actor said in a statement.


"As a father, an actor, a filmmaker and a patriot, my visit to Iraq is for me a natural extension of my obligation to find my own voice on matters of conscience."


Upon arrival at the Al-Mansour Children's Hospital yesterday, the well-known hothead refused to talk to reporters or allow them to join his tour of the hospital, saying he needed privacy with the sick children.


The State Department refused to comment on Penn's trip - but Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.) lambasted Penn's peace ploy.


"The guy's lucky he can act and should leave it at that," King told The Post. "It gives recognition to Hussein that he doesn't deserve. It gives an acknowledgment to Iraq that it doesn't deserve."


King added, "You'd think these guys would have learned their lesson from Jane Fonda (news)."


The congressman was referring to Jane Fonda's infamous two-week trip to North Vietnam in 1972, when the U.S.-bashing actress - forever after branded "Hanoi Jane" - toured villages, hospitals, schools and factories, accompanied by military officials.

She called American soldiers "war criminals."

Penn, whose trip was organized by the Institute of Public Accuracy, is staying in Baghdad's Al-Rashid Hotel - a favorite watering hole of the foreign press. His wife, actress Robin Wright Penn (news), and their two sons stayed home.

Today, Penn is expecting to meet with officials from Iraq's Health Ministry and has slated an news conference for tomorrow, a spokesperson for the IPA told The Post.

Penn is also set to visit Baghdad's Al-Wathba water-treatment plant, which was damaged by U.S. bombing during the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites).

Additional reporting by Brian Blomquist

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/pagesix/20021214/en_pagesix/_poison__penn_in_iraq

[kitkat]

"FACT-FINDING MISSION"??????????????

Well, gee, maybe they'll show him all those WMD and germ factories that the inspectors can't find.

/sarcasm

[JoeSixPack1]

Keep a close eye on these morons and find out where they will be hiding when the bombs start dropping. It's real easy to "say" your a human shield, but the peckerless hollyweirdos will be on the other side of the world when the scud hits the fan.

[mountaineer]

Sean Penn Says War in Iraq Is Avoidable
Sun Dec 15, 7:05 AM ET

By Alistair Lyon

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - If a U.S.-led war with Iraq smears blood on his hands as an American citizen, Sean Penn wants to know why -- and he has come to Baghdad to find out.

"Absolutely I think war can be avoided, but obviously it's going to take enormous commitment on the part of the Iraqi government as well as the United States," the actor-director told Reuters television in an interview on Sunday.

"I will certainly do what I can to support that commitment to looking for other options," Penn said.

The former Hollywood bad boy and Oscar nominee paid for a $56,000 advertisement in the Washington Post in October accusing President Bush of stifling debate on Iraq.

He declined to renew his criticism of Bush on foreign soil, saying he would reserve political comments for his return home.

Bush has threatened war to topple President Saddam Hussein if he fails to abandon his alleged doomsday arsenal.

Penn said it would "suit us all" if Iraq fully disclosed any banned weapons it still has, but questioned whether U.S. national security concerns about this justified war.

Asked if his three-day trip to Baghdad might expose him to charges of lack of patriotism, Penn said he would be happy to debate anyone who made such accusations. "I'm here for a simple reason, which is because I'm a patriot and an American who has benefited enormously from being an American, and because I had areas of personal concern and conscience that led me to come to Iraq.

"I believe, however I vote and whatever my perspective, that I do deserve the government I get," he said.

"And if there's going to be blood on my hands, I'm determined that it's not going to be invisible. That blood is not just Iraqi blood, it's the blood of American soldiers."

Penn's visit was organized by the Institute of Public Accuracy, a U.S. group of policy analysts.

He has toured a Baghdad children's hospital, wandered the streets without an Iraqi minder and had meetings with Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz and Health Minister Umeed Madhat Mubarak -- who gave him a hard time for his smoking habit.

Penn said he had been touched by the warmth of ordinary Iraqis despite the tension and suffering of their daily lives.

"I do find it very moving, you know, the strength of a smile in those circumstances, and the smiles that I saw were abundant," he said.

Penn's advertisement in the Washington Post took the form of an open letter in which he urged Bush to stop a cycle where "bombing is answered by bombing, mutilation by mutilation, killing by killing."

"Sacrificing American soldiers or innocent civilians in an unprecedented pre-emptive attack on a separate sovereign nation may well prove itself a most temporary medicine," he said.

More than 100 other American celebrities, including Hollywood stars Kim Basinger, David Duchovny and Mia Farrow, signed an open letter last week which said rigorous United Nations inspections were the best way to disarm Iraq, not war.

Asked to explain his interest in Iraq, Penn said it was the "current headline" for the Bush administration's war on terror.

"It's a war that is going to affect the generation of my children," he said.

"Because of the technology and the heightened desperation of the world today, I think it's very possible that we are facing the first century that will complete itself without mankind -- and that's not the future that I want for my children, or for their children," he declared.

Penn said his Iraq odyssey, by helping him to be aware of the times he lived in, could play into his professional life. "Whatever story you have to tell, you have to be aware of who you are telling it to and what the benefit of it is, whether it's limited to amusement or a political statement, because short of that it's simply what someone does alone in a bathroom," the 42-year-old Californian said.

Did he hope to bridge the gap between American perceptions of Iraq and the reality?

"I have to start with bridging my own gap," he replied.

"Ultimately if I can do that in the way you expressed, that would be something I'd be very proud of."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=638&ncid=762&e=1&u=/nm/20021215/en_nm/iraq_penn_dc

[JoeSixPack1]

Penn is such a complete moron he has no idea how he is being used. Every utterance he makes shows just how vacant he really is. His "I", "me", "mine", "My kids", etc., statements show what a buffoonish, self-serving, international jerk he is.

Wealth and brains are a rare combination for the "pretend" crowd. Sean Penn has borderline of both.

But it's good publicity for his image amongst his "pretend" pals back in Hollyweird so maybe this mission of publicity via political ignorance is a ploy to get a job and he's using a pending Iraqi regime change for the spotlight.

Whatever the case, he has a ways to go to catch up to "Hanoi Bitch".

[freespyral]

ignorant people with uninformed opinions make me hurl. that would be you since i gather you're rather slow. i guess you're one of those goody goodies who never played a joke in your entire pathetic life. i would love to chat with you about fires, death, life, felony murder rules that violate the hell out of the constitution. sorry i'm only coming across your ignorance now. christ. how old are you 16? why don't you dust off your tired old crusty opinions about Janet Danahey and let's chat. feel free to email me: spyral216@yahoo.com that is if you're not scared...