OlderAngelina Jolie: We Have a Moral Obligation to Help Iraqi Refugees
We have finally reached a point where humanitarian assistance, from us and others, can have an impact.
UNHCR goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie visited Iraq earlier this month and penned her experience for The Washington Post.
Here are some excerpts from Angie’s excellent opinion piece: “During my trip I also met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has announced the creation of a new committee to oversee issues related to internally displaced people, and a pledge of $40 million to support the effort.
“My visit left me even more deeply convinced that we not only have a moral obligation to help displaced Iraqi families, but also a serious, long-term, national security interest in ending this crisis.
“Today’s humanitarian crisis in Iraq — and the potential consequences for our national security — are great. Can the United States afford to gamble that 4 million or more poor and displaced people, in the heart of Middle East, won’t explode in violent desperation, sending the whole region into further disorder?”
Read the full article at WashingtonPost.com.
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588 Comments
# 305 shut up @ 02/28/2008 at 6:08 pm
It’s not her ROLE as UN goodwill ambassador to encourage US to stay in Iraq or to set US foreign policy as an occupying MILITARY force in the world.
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Criminey…you’re reading comprehension skills are horrible. I guess now we all know who’s NOT smarter than a 5th grader.
# 314 shut up @ 02/28/2008 at 6:17 pm
Actually I have visited the middle east.. the question is have you?or are you just a bully online?
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Too bad all the suicide bombers had the day off.
uhhh, why do people hate her?? she does more for humanitarium aid than our leaders do. and just to show how selfless she is, she just went to iraq whilst pregnant.
lolz @ defamer.
# 316 Crystal clear @ 02/28/2008 at 6:19 pm
IRAQ is overflowing with oil, which now costs over $100 per barrel.
Do you really think the US will get out of Iraq?
If the US pulls out of Iraq, chaos will follow, there will be civil war in Iraq, Iran will invade Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich nations may get involved, oil shoots up to $1000 per barrel, US economy will suffer, unemployment will rise, Al-qaeda will attack US and then US military goes back to the MIddle East to fight.
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DING, DING DING!!!! WE HAVE A WINNER!
Iraq is essentially Vietnam with oil. If there’s been oil in Vietnam instead of rain forests…our asses would STILL be there fighing an unwinnable war.
tita, what is sad is that the news came out prematurely. i think it was agreed w/ the writers that this info would only come out once prince harry had returned home since they feared for the prince’s safety.
Love this woman. I do not have word to say how much I love the BAMPZS+1or2 family.
GOD BLESS THE JOLIE-PITTS.
~~~NEW THREAD~~~
You know, it would make it easier to like Jennifer Aniston if she woke up one day and realized Brad Pitt isn’t coming back. It would make it easier if she realized that she was only ever considered A-list because of proximity. It would make it easier if every story we ever heard about her for the last three years didn’t have something to with how evil Angelina Jolie is and what a victim Aniston is. Seriously, either find and keep a boyfriend or get on your knees and beg David Arquette to consider polygamy. No offense sweetie, but Mariane Pearl had a faster recovery time than you.
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Look I’m not a fan of Jennifer Aniston, but to say she was only ever considered A-List because of Brad is ridiculous. She was the star of one of the most famous shows in history. She was huge before Brad. What about the ‘Rachel’ haircut.
Angelina has had a few career down-times over the years. Before Mr & Mrs Smith it was one flop after another for a long time. Now her careers picked up a bit (though she’s still more famous for her off-camera life) and good for her. Remember it was only 3yrs ago taht she was voted the celeb most famous for being famous. Don’t try to pretend Jennifer is nothing without Brad. Even if her career never gets back on track she’ll still go down in history as one of the highest earning actresses ever. That’s not nothing.
The reason every article is about her being the victim is because tabloids like to create drama where this is none. That’s not Jennifers fault, and if it bothers you then why read tabloids?
NEW THREAD!!!!!!!!!
Very well said!!! Great article..I’m so proud of her.
dina #1 @ 02/28/2008 at 10:03 pm # 405 Maureen
Really good post.
Question?
Remember at the beginning of the war when there were these reports of soldiers finding millions Sadaam had hidden in vaults, trucks, vans, etc? Whatever happened to that money? Whose pocket did it line? I remember something being said about using it to help rebuild Iraq. Does anyone believe this?
There are so many well thought out post here. Even if you keep up with current events and think you are well informed it is always good to read someone else’s perspective. But you do have to filter out the insane and crazy posts. Peace
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I don’t have the answers to your questions. I wish I did. All I can say that in my dealings, on a personal level, with someone who has 30 years of experience where oil & gas is concerned, our (US gov’t) has more control over pricing than we are led to believe. Yep, there is a lot going on that is driving oil prices up and our government is a major factor. We are sheeps led to the slaughter. So when I hear people complaining about AJ and what THEY think SHE should be doing for the US, it’s a riot.. She is doing what she can for those who have a small voice. Who have no choice in global wars. At least those people are not accusing her of doing things for PR.
It’s a shame, that in countries of the free world, with people who have education readily available, choose to see her actions as something less. It’s a sad state when the demise of an actress’s marriage that people are fans of, gives the opportunity to impune someone who is actively doing something good. AJ has been doing this for over 6 years. It’s not a flight of fancy. It’s the real deal. Brad showed his interst 5 years ago. That’s why the notes on her travels and Brad’s MIR project are discussed rationally in major newspapers. But, for those that live their lives in getting information from tabloids, GOOD LUCK WITH THAT belief system, I might have some swamp land to sell.
I’ll say I automatically discredit anyone who cites NL as a a source for information. Most of those people write from home with their hands on the latest tabloids.
Shut your stupid war-lover lips hobag.
Hopefully the ghost writer who wrote that for her shoved his **** in her stupid mouth to spare us more of this pro-war propaganda.
It’s not real. It’s an illegal war started after a false flag attack on the USA.
Suck my **** you stupid *****.
Ghost writer, how you interpreted pro war propaganda out of her article seriously needs to be explained.
Not really though. Most of us can discern the written word. You’ve been spending too much time in the bathroom during class to understand the written word.
Hopefully you got what you needed out of your system.
It would make sense if Pitt goes on American Idol. Everything in his life is fake. He might as well go on a scripted show that’s designed to look real. They are all lip-syncing so the broadcast stations can control the message.
There won’t be one Lennon on American Idol. Pitt and Jolie are no Lennon’s. They are war propagandists, parrots of the Inside Traitors who attacked us in New York in 2001. WTC was a false flag attack for war profiters. Jolie is now a war profiteer. She’s profitting by getting her photo in the trades, PR and by being portrayed as something she isn’t - a humanitarian. She’s a dumb parrot.
After pages of well thought out and well written posts by intelligent fans, here come some lunatic haters to ruin a good thing. Sigh.
Idoit, the unfriendly Ghost:
That exercise would be over before you can say IRAQ. So why don’t you succesfullly attempt some enhancers, then we will talk again. Now off yo grandma’s house you go!
Hats off to you Angelina! My admiration to you just got more intense. We love you & Brad of course.
missy @ 02/28/2008 at 2:41 pm I guess she differs with Obama on pulling out of Iraq. I underestimated her… she’s got quite some sense after all!
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Mnay underestimate Angelina, but this makes human sense. Of course America cannot pull out of Iraq and leave this unspeakable misery and chaos behind. I am not a fan of Iraq, of Muslims or their hatred of the West, but for the West to survive this has to be fixed or there will be hell to pay. 100 years from now our great grand kids will be fighting their Iraqi neighbours here in North America (I am Canadian) if we don’t do something about this now.
We went there and initiated the chaos and Bush was very proud of himself. We need to fix it before we leave. Bush is leaving office and leaving an almost impossible problem behinf\d for someone else to solve. He has squandered the surplus Clinton left in the treaury and now American is three biillion in war debt. But that’s America’s problems. Iraq DID NOT ASK FOR BUSH TO COME THERE AND START s-it and America has to fix it, with the help of the rest of the world of course.
mmmjustsaayin @ 02/28/2008 at 4:04 pm Dinner 128 For the small minded and shallow people who would actually think Angie would be afraid to confront x, please remind them that this is a lady who has traveled to Iraq, Darfur, Sudan, Serra Leone, and other hell on earth places. X is not even a **** in comparsion to these and the other places she has gone. Angie and Brad have risen so far above their petty bullsh*t. That is why the don’t need to respond to everything that is printed and said about them. As Angie has said in the past, “Those people who know me, know what I am about.” And believe me it is not about Ted C. and the other jealous people who consistently try to bring her down. She met with the two highest ranking people in Iraq. How many people, ordinary people not those in the State Dept, etc., can say that? Angelina is not a dummy. She is intelligent, and thoughtful. And least we forget independent. Peace
BUT SHE STILL CHICKENED OUT OF MEETING X….bwahaha all show and NO GO!!!
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What a great post you had and then you had to ruin it.
No, she didn’t. She did not have a date with Jennifer. The tabs and the gutter press built up the so-called showdown. Angie had better things to do, like taking care of her four kids, resting after a gruelling afternooon on her feet in high heels and packing up her family and belongings to move to Texas for four months. That is not a small underrtaking and somone had to supervise the move.
Give away all your money, stop flying in private jets, wearing designer clothes, buying mutiple houses around the globe & traveling on a whim.
Try living paycheck to paycheck. Not $20 million paychecks either. Function as a true middle-class American and then you can spout off about how we should sacrifice our sons & daughters in Iraq & donate our hard earned money to those in other countries.
Try living green yourself before telling others to do so. Are all the houses they have green houses? Their cars, boats, motorcycles, etc?
Practice what you preach! More people might be inclined to follow.
Hypocrites!
Congrat Angie on a well written article and also on yr next baby. After reading all comments, I wish to add my say.
If this article was written by any Washington writer, do you think it will generate the buzz that it has. Most importantly, whether you agree or disagree with AJ, fact is that you have gone and read this article bcoz it is written by Angelina Jolie. By giving yr differing views, the aides of the UN, US Congress, Senate will also be reading them. Decision making by them are made after considering all points of views and their own opinions. Policy makers are aware and will make sure that all relevant postings by the people are important as well.
Also, this article is being given a space in The Washington Post, one of the premier paper in USA. AJ is a well respected personality and this is not the first piece of article she has written. Her advisor will also be there to advise her on this and ensure that any article that come out will not be just any flimsy pc of article to be condemn and make AJ a light weight to be laughed at.
So, do plse look at this article as someone opinion of their belief. You can support or discredit it based on your own thoughts. Just think of the no of people who voted Bush as a president. Are they wrong or right to vote him. Bear in mind that he got 2 terms. I will prefer AJ as President, never Bush. Bush was the one that got US messed up in Iraq. Now he will be leaving office and the next Prez will hv to clean up after him. I pity the next guy who will be Prez as he will be going into office faced with multi-internal as well as external. Good luck and god bless the next Prez of USA.
Just remember this Bush didn’t give a shiite about the Iraqi people before he bombed away and flattened their country. He doesn’t care about refugees either.
Those people in Iraq arent terrorists..they are people that probably hate /Bush for destroying their lives and country.
Good job Angelina - a very intelligent and thought provoking article…
I’m not surprised at all that this article provoked a lot of people in both sides (excluding of course “idiotic” opinions by those who lack the capacity for basic comprehension). On the contrary, we need more of these kinds of articles to create an open discourse for public participation as a democratic society. The magnitude of the Iraq war problems are impossible to solve with all it’s complications, without international intervention. Almost two million Iraqi people are displaced (homeless) in their own country, not to mention the othe two million displaced in the neighboring countries - that is a lot of lives at stake. Indeed, it is our “moral obligation” as a civilized society to take actions in bringing back Iraqis to their homes. America’s interest is also the world’s interest, therefore taking proper actions on these perilous and urgent situation is essential to avoid worldwide catastrophe. Inaction will have great consequences…..
Goodnight everyone….
i think she’s amazing and i love her and her family. i think we have a moral obligation to help the children of the united states first. schools are closing or over populated because of lack of money. we can educate our children first so that we can protect this country. i believe in helping the less fortunate but i just recently took a job at a high school and i think our youth are the ones that are not fortunate. we need more black educaters and counselors to help our black children and this is not just for the black children…this is for all children.
It is not hard to fly first class to a foreign country, meet with important people, and then write a paper on it,(anyone who has graduated from high school or college has had to do the same type of writing).
What is hard is effecting real change-this is the task that miss angelina is just not up for or even interested in. Her primary efforts focus on establishing relationships with an international contact base consisting primarily of important officials, (this ultimately increases her own power base. It does far less in helping refugees, but what am I saying? They are just “details”).
The phillipino refugees who called on her for support were not important enough to visit. But Iraqi refugees - now that’s HOT! The U.N did not even sanction, need, or was aware of her “cowboy” solo save the Iraqi refugees mission she undertook.
Please make no mistake, miss Angelina is a little too transparent in marketing her own self important persona, (especially now around Oscar time since she knew the press would not be covering an award for her this year.)
I do not think angelina is in any position to dictate if my son should stay in Iraq to support her cause. How nice it must be not to have to deal with all these “details”.
I agree, all the hollywood icons that have made millions of dollars for ‘acting’ do have an obligation to help others, let THEM help them.
That ’s the problem of socially conscious celebrities doing good things. there will always those jealous, nasty, negative voices coming from the pathetic haters questioning their motives.
These haters prefer celebrities who actually earn their millions from us audience and masses not giving back but using in tanning, spa, salon, shopping spree, alcohol , drugs, pampering themselves or doing nothing acting dumb . that’s the image of celebrities they love.
I ‘ll always admire Angie , Brad, GC,Leo, even Madonna and other’s actors trying to bring awareness to topics we people of the world have overlook. Thank you Angie at al.
# 476 bb @ 02/29/2008 at 12:32 am
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If we didn’t go into the war in “Eyerack” to begin with, we could have used the billions we used there for killing to invest in the American education at home. We are still spending billions of dollars every month over there, to make more enemies, instead of friends. Shouldn’t you be concerned? And don’t try to play the race card. Somehow I think you are not black, and you don’t give a damn about black children.
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