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.
Share This Post:
588 Comments
lol @ 02/28/2008 at 3:33 pm “Once again, just for you, my dear, here’s what Angie does with and for the UNHCR: she is a VOLUNTEER with the UNHCR, having been ASKED by them to HELP THEM with the GLOBAL task of drawing attention to HUMANITARIAN crises AROUND THE WORLD so that those of us who are closeted in our safe little world of plenty, are made aware of the dangers of the ever-increasing millions of disconted, displaced, homeless, hungry and increasingly angry peoples around the world, so that we can offer a little of our own money to HELP the UN carry out its task of helping these people so that the world doesnt descend into chaos.”
THANK YOU!
******************************************************
ITA. I have yet to see Angie proclaim she has the solutions or is the problem solver. Her position is to bring awareness. It’s funny how people put the label on her of having all the answers. She’s never SAID THAT. True, some may already be aware, but, many are not. We are living in a quick time world and so many people are involved in the world of reality tv that they are not aware of what’s going on in the world. There are many young people, as unfortunate as it is, that can’t place Iraq or many other foreign countries on a map. If it takes a celebrity to bring it to their attention, at least it has brought it to their attention.
She’ll take the bad with the overall good.
shut up-you must not be aware of female military personnel who are in harms way during their pregnancies and cannot leave immediately. Do you hold that against them? You may not be aware of Christiane Amanpour, a journalist, who kept traveling to dangerous countries during her pregnancy, was she wrong in carrying out something she felt passionate about? And who are we to judge that? I don’t know. Something tells me it is better to be doing these things than sitting at home and trashing someone on the internet because you don’t like them.
American Idol is doing their 2nd annual charity for poor children in Africa and America. Last year they had tape segments with major stars which is probably what they are going to do with Brad, Miley, Reese, Snoop Dog etc.
shut up @ 02/28/2008 at 3:45 pm
blah, blah blah STFU you’re like a broken record i hope somebody drop your ass in IRAQ then become one of the refugees over there i don’t t hink you’ll even last one day.
shut up @ 02/28/2008 at 3:45 pm
blah, blah blah STFU you’re like a broken record i hope somebody drop your ass in IRAQ then become one of the refugees over there i don’t t hink you’ll even last one day.
lylian @ 02/28/2008 at 8:58 pm For those saying that Angelina is clearly trying to influence politics and stepping out of line, - err, why shouldn’t she try to influence things?
Don’t you do that? Don’t you vote for the person who you believe is going to try to deliver better schools or lower taxes or what ever it is that you value?? If you had not supported the war, didn’t you write to letters to your newspapers and decry the sending of troops to a war you didn’t want. Don’t you call up you representative now and tell him that you think the US should pull out or remain in Iraq. If not, why not?? YOu can. Who is stopping you??
What it is, is that YOU PERCEIVE Angelina’s circle of influence is larger than yours. YOU are correct. But Angelina earned it - by being a high profile actress, by managing her media image, by taking the initiative to contact UNHCR, by making lots of overseas visits to refugees camps including going to places where her own life might be endangered, by speaking carefully, by networking behind the scenes, by writing her book, by making donations, by doing ALL THE HARD WORK that she has done, when she could have sat by the pool enjoying her millions and her beauty, - she has earned the larger circle of influence.
It remains to be seen whether or not her influence will be effective. I support what she says, not because I’m a fan of hers but because
(a) we helped create the humanitarian crisis and we do have a moral obligation to sort it out and
(b) I can see how if Iraq becomes a volley ball between Russia, Iran, Jordan and Syria, I can see how my life will suffer - with oil moving up to above 120$ a barrel and Al Qaeda with millions of young children to impress upon to hate the nasty yanks, aussies and brits who brought chaos to their lives and left them with no home, no schools and no future. Yikes.
***************************************************
Great post!
CLINIQUA @ 02/28/2008 at 4:25 pm someone just posted elsewhere…left on Insider on msn just posted:
Owen Wilson wants Kate Hudson in the dog movie. They’re back together. They’re pushing Maniston out. Wilson is thinking of walking if she stays.
Bahahahaha!
Darn I can hear the screaming from here. It won’t happen. Kate does not want to be associated with X whining for the next year. But I am glad Owen is doing better.
American Idol must be doing another “American Idol Gives Back” episode… apparently they heard the screams of the haters/trolls asking “Why isn’t Brad there??”, and now he will be :D Good for him - if that’s what he wants to do, I support it.
more new pictures of Brad from today
http://jjb.yuku.com/topic/242729?page=542
brad
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z280/brangelinaespanol/Febrero%2008/brad-on-set01.jpg
Thanks for the pics of Brad. It looks like one the home or store owners has rented out their space to the paps.
# 129 shut up @ 02/28/2008 at 3:57 pm
I’m still playing catch up, but…
Did this loser ever live up to their name and shut up?
Hello Alexanderina - I’m doing well - how are you? I love Brad with shorter hair; it shows his beautiful eyes off better some how and makes him look younger.
Passing Through - please get up on that soapbox anytime you feel like it - we NEED the opinion of some Poli Sci Majors here on these issues. My English Lit. Major gave me excellent critical thinking and research skills, but sadly my knowledge of Medieval Lit. through to Postmodernism doesn’t lend itself to topic at hand.
lylian-Great post. ITAWY
Gena-Thanks for the cooments.
I’m going to write ABC. I am so angry about that unethical hatchet job w/ that psychologist. That article was a violation of any journalistic integrity they may have left.
T&L @ 02/28/2008 at 6:07 pm
I’m not pro war by any means but the fact remains that the U.S. needs to clean up the havoc it’s created in Iraq.
——————————————————————————————–
This is one statement that obviously needs to be reiterated many times over.
With this one written piece by Angie to the Washington Post, people’s awareness of this humanitarian crisis in Iraq have risen a million times over. However, it appears to have created an outlet for that lunatic aka ‘Shut Up’ to vent her pent up anger on Angie. As AG said, you do have to feel pity for them.
Awww, those new pictures of Brad make him look SO CUTE. He looks SO GOOD with the haircut. :)
From defamer @ 02/28/2008 at 8:31 pm Having just returned from a trip to Iraq, Angelina Jolie has penned an opinion piece for The Washington Post, in which she assessed her findings on how the war has devastated the people of that region: “More than 2 million people are refugees inside their own country — without homes, jobs and, to a terrible degree, without medicine, food or clean water. Ethnic cleansing and other acts of unspeakable violence have driven them into a vast and very dangerous no-man’s land. Many of the survivors huddle in mosques, in abandoned buildings with no electricity, in tents or in one-room huts made of straw and mud.” By way of fairness, the paper has opened up their op/ed section to Jennifer Aniston too, whose own column, “Whole Foods: Why Can’t They Stay Open Until 11?” should appear early next week.
LOL. Burn. ;)
Mrs. Smith - notice how as soon as ‘Shut Up’ was asked to legitimize their opinion and their supposed time spent in the Middle East they ran off with their tail between their legs? :lol: I’m having a hard time feeling much pity for lying lunatics.
Where did all of Brad’s hair go?
pop @ 02/28/2008 at 9:21 pm
brad
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z280/brangelinaespanol/Febrero%2008/brad-on-set01.jpg
————————————————————
sooooooooooooooooooooooo cute
Whole Foods started in Austin, TX. Their headquarters are there.
My favorite grocery store!!
lylian ITA
Why shouldn’t Anglina do her best in trying to be effective? Why being an artist/actor can’t qualify for making a Washington Post op/ed contribution? Didn’t USA have an actor president, also an actor California governor now? Didn’t JFK say do what you can do for your country?
Clearly haters look at Angelina and are reminded of how lazy and inferior they are to her in every aspect of life, or if they are JenFans, it is too obvious to the world how lazy and inferior she is to Anglina and can’t stand it. Sad, but there is nothing to be done, as Angelina is clearly superior.
172 # 172 shut up @ 02/28/2008 at 4:34 pm
I think that if she knew what it would mean to stay in Iraq (177 Million dollars a day) she would shut here pie hole.
——-
The more you speak the dumber you sound! The US is (mainly) responsible for the destruction of Iraq, and therefore is mainly responsible for the rebuilding of the country before the coalition leaves.
Wasn’t it you who has visited the Middle East? I have lived there. So? Angie is speaking as a UNHCR goodwill ambassador.
Her focus is the refugees. The UNHCR must be very happy with her work.
# 399 Passing Through @ 02/28/2008 at 9:08 pm
=====================
I love your post in response to Francesca. I doubt though that her mom came to this country with just 3 dollars, and made it all the way thru med school without any monetary help from anybody whatsoever. I really want to know how she managed early on, after landing here. Where did she live, how did she pay the rent, how did she get a job right away without any money for transportation and speaking no English on top of that? I love success stories, but to make me believe she did it without any monetary help at first is a hard thing to do.
He looks so much younger with this clean shaven & short hair look.
i don´t understand why some people critize the article. The article is clear and describes the situation there. “The humanitarian crisis has displaced more than 4 million people. Of the 2 million refugees within the country, 58 percent are under 12 years old”.
If the international community doesn´t do something there is no future for those children.
Pages: « 1 … 14 15 16 [17] 18 19 20 … 24 » Show All
Comment and Share!
E-mail to a Friend or share on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and more!