DAY FOUR - SEAN PENN IN IRAN

SF Gate ^ | Thursday, August 25, 2005 | SEAN PENN

[F14 Pilot]

I think Iraq was the wrong target! We should have targeted Iran or Syria...

We should have helped the Iranian freedom movement somehow in the first place!

[liamkennedy]

We should have helped the Iranian freedom movement somehow in the first place!

If what you mean is we should have supported the good people in Iran in creative ways to help them achieve their goals... I cannot agree with you more.

[ohioman]

Why don't go to Iran with the traitor Sean Penn. If you agree with this ass clown, then I wonder why are aren't down with Mother Sheemhan too.

[OESY]

It's only a game Sean Penn plays. But, Sean, why not do something useful, like
protecting innocent Iraqis from insurgent bombs by being a real human shield?

[OESY]

Human shields face 12 years' jail for visiting Iraq

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Wednesday August 13, 2003
The Guardian

Anti-war activists who visited Iraq before the US invasion have discovered that they could face up to 12 years in prison and $1m in fines.

Although travel firms now tout adventure tours to a country that is a temporary home to 150,000 US troops, scores of American protesters have been warned they risk fines or imprisonment for violating a prewar travel ban.

During the past few weeks a retired schoolteacher in her 60s and a number of other activists have received warnings from the US treasury that they could face punishment for travelling to Iraq.

"When I came back from Iraq I had a letter from the treasury threatening up to 12 years in prison and up to $1m [£620,000] in fines," said Faith Fippinger, 62.
Ms Fippinger, who retired as a teacher for the blind, spent the war as a human shield, living in the grounds of an ageing oil refinery in Baghdad.

She was among about 30 Americans who arrived in Iraq in the run-up to war to serve as human shields. She was one of the few who stayed. More than 150 other US protesters - including the actor Sean Penn - travelled to Iraq in the run-up to war....

Other activists saw the enforcement campaign as a chance to reopen the war debate. "I say bring it on," said Ellen Barfield, an activist from Baltimore who went to Iraq last winter [yup, that's her]. "I don't want the hassle, but obviously it publicises the issue. So I say: 'Go ahead and do what you say you are going to do and punish people who went to Iraq out of a fine concern for human beings.'"

[liamkennedy]

Why don't go to Iran with the traitor Sean Penn

you haven't been reading very carefully now have you. I HAVE been to Iran myself... last year... Have a look at some video

I guess I must be a traitor then.

What a simple world you live in.

I must admit... I think I've said everything I needed to say here... and everyone else has pretty much said everything they need to say.... I think we all get the point.

[shield]

PENTAGON FRIENDS TELLS JACK WHEELER: WH REFUSES TO ATTACK IRAN

[liamkennedy]

I wonder why are aren't down with Mother Sheemhan too

Oh dear... and again... more examples of you not reading very well today. See my prior post #16 above.

"I believe now we have been suckered into Iraq... we have GOT to stick it out and leave the place in some semblance of "stability"

[ohioman]

Well Mr. high and mighty, how can you defend Penn? You missed that part in your anal response.

[Antoninus]

Yeah... those were the days... when we had Sadaam and his weasels under our little thumb. God.. I wish we could go back to those days. No Fly Zones.... his army under intense scrutiny... I honestly believe that we would have been able to create a better place than we have done now... and without the tens of 1000's of innocent civilian casualties... or the loss of life of our own military.

Yeah, those were the days! When Saddam's could while away the hours plotting to assassinate former US presidents, jamming innocent people into tree shredders, having children raped in front of their parents, violating no-fly zones, skirting international sanctions with his buddies the French and Ruskies, and supporting Islamic terrorism. The world was such a better place, then.

(You actually believed FH911, didn't you? Just put down the bong...)

[Antoninus]

I guess I must be a traitor then.

Nah, I'd put you down as a useful idiot.

[liamkennedy]

Yeah, those were the days! When Saddam's could while away the hours plotting to assassinate former US presidents, jamming innocent people into tree shredders, having children raped in front of their parents, violating no-fly zones, skirting international sanctions with his buddies the French and Ruskies, and supporting Islamic terrorism. The world was such a better place, then

Again... you choose to think what you will about my views without reading everything I have said. I am not suggesting such things were good. I am suggesting that we had a means to make a difference - even to "up the ante" in a way which did not mean the death of tens of 1000's of innocents.

[Antoninus]

My point is... we had Saddam where we wanted him.

No, now we have Saddam where we want him.

Not to mention the issues we have now created where Iraq is now a full fledged breading ground for terrorists (far more than was ever happening prior to the war).

Is that where we bake the terrorists into marble ryes?

I would argue that it's you who have the blinkered, sophomoric view of the Iraq situation. As long as we consider victory our only option in Iraq--which means setting up a stable, functioning, democracy with a reasonable amount of freedom--then we will have done the world and the Iraqis an unbelievable good.

If we allow the crack-pots and defeatists to dictate our policy again like they did in Vietnam, we will truly have a catastrophic situation on our hands. Iraq will crumble into three rump states, Islamic terrorism will flourish because a great victory will have been handed to them, and rogue states like Iran will continue to support Islamic terrorism around the world because our weakness will have been demonstrated beyond all doubt. For the "Hate America First" crowd, that would be like heaven on earth. I pray you're not one of those people.

[omniscient]

Can't I say that and yet still believe there would have been a better way to get there?

You can say anything and believe in anything you want, including the tooth fairy. If you think there was a peaceful way to get Saddam to see the error of his ways, relinquish power, and turn his country into a democracy, we would like to hear about it, unless of course, it's the "secret plan" that only you and Kerry know about.

[RJL]

Want more? There are still more... all saying the same darned thing.

How many times are you going to post this?

It seems someone stepped on a nerve. Do you work for, or with Sean Penn?

[RJL]

Oh yeah... I remember it well... but DON'T FORGET the WMD's!! Oh yeah... there ARE NONE.

Bzzzt... Wrong!

Saddam used WMD, poison gas against the Iraqi people and in the war with Iran.

[omniscient]

Do you work for, or with Sean Penn?

Or are you in fact Sean Penn?

[whershey]

Typical liberal blathering. If you can't come up with an answer just insult people.

[RVN Airplane Driver]

My question if you were in Iran last year...why didn't you stay...could have been a fine one person welcoming committee for that pi$$ ant penn. I'm sure you would have gotten along fine. and yes there are some fine people in Iran...I was there long before you...

Now go slobber in your liberal drivel...

[liamkennedy]

How can I defend Penn?

Hello??? Is anybody reading what I am writing? Pretty much my entire point of me posting here is to defend Penn. Don't you get that yet? Ok... let me spell it out again....Simple... he has made it a personal mission to get up and go to Iran and choose and see for himself.. and to make up his own opinion on what he sees. I applaud that. I defend THAT.

I've done the same thing myself. My own actions should tell you something IN BIG BOLD LETTERS about what I feel on the matter.

Also... if you merely take a few minutes to go back and review all the (as I call it) "TRIPE" that was espoused by many many people about what Sean Penn was doing (look back to the posts around June 12th)... what his motives were... how he would be USED by the Mullahs to further their aims... etc etc etc etc etc. How he was going to be using the visit to blame everything on Bush etc etc etc etc.

THAT has simply not come true. Those opinions that were so righteously espoused have simply been shown to be totally inappropriate. Instead.. all that people can do is just throw out all the same trash. Trashing his character, trashing his writing ability... Basically because he did not give you anything else to go at.

His trip, his articles on his trip (so far) have been pretty good at sharing what he has seen... and what it meant to him.

In my book... that is a great Way to behave. I wish more of you would take a chance and go to Iran... and see or yourself like Sean did. Like I did.