DAY FOUR - SEAN PENN IN IRAN

Penn is surprisingly candid in his reporting and statement of his viewpoints. He sure seems to be honestly saying this is what saw and happened to me and this is what I think about it.

Great exerpts from the article:

And you're grabbing my hand? You mother -- theo-fascist pig!" Though I didn't speak these words aloud, I certainly meant them. (The irony of being accosted for having a camera was not lost on me.)

Is there hope for you yet Sean?

We struggled briefly over the camera. I didn't know what the limits were exactly. I struggled with my left hand to retrieve my journalist's credential from my pocket. This guy didn't know who he was f -- with. And it is my belief that to this day, he still doesn't care.

You mean the mullah's hired muscle don't care about your feelings? I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked. And you are correct, he didn't know that he was dealing with a load-mouthed pampered hollywood wussy-boy until your interpreter told him so.

the police began to arrest journalists. By day's end, approximately 30 journalists were jailed. I ran into one well-known, and I will confess, left-leaning Western journalist who suggested I make an effort to get arrested, that it would "make a great story." So that's the way they play it, huh?

I'm surprised the SF Chronicle allowed this in. Most everyone on Free Republic knows that the MSM creates news, but not Sean Penn, he still believes they report news. So Sean's a coolaide drinking true-believer, who'd a thunk it?

I would like to one day travel to an Arab outback and bond with the people there. God willing.

Not to dissuade you from whatever path you choose.... but I just wanted to clear up a potential misunderstanding with regards to Arab and Iranians. They are not the same thing.

I know the equation goes Iran = Islamic = Arab so therefore many assume Iran = Arab... but that is not actually the case

The Iranians I know are very "sensitive" to this point... almost to the extent of "reverse" snobbery (or worse)... but hey... I thought I would pass this point on anyway.

And finally... if you would like to meet with people from these cultures you only have to look as far as your own neighborhoods. There is a very large Iranian community throughout the USA. There are many opportunities to meet and to talk with them - and you do not actually need to travel so far to do so.

That is the beauty of America.

Thanks for the info. And thanks for reminding me about the Arabic culture all around me. That's where I think I'll connect first. I always do a lot of research before entering a third world country. And I always have a host in the country I'm traveling to. I'm adventurous, not crazy :).

Isn't it great to learn about other cultures, first hand?

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

Disagree. Iran and Syria can learn a lesson from what happend in Iraq with Saddam toppled into jail, and 25 million Iraqis were freed from Saddam's oppressive reign of terror.

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

The Iranians should help themselves. Unlike Iraq, the Iranians are not afraid to speak out against their leadership, and the Iranian leadership is vastly outnumbered by Iranians seeking freedom from oppressive rule. The Iraqis were and still are afraid to "go it alone", this is why it's dangerous to suggest that we prematurely pull our troops out of Iraq, otherwise there will be an internal uprising within Iraq and Iraq would become a radical Muslim state, harboring the most dangerous element of terrorists.

I do understand that...

David Hunt says to knock out the Iranian Troops helping the terrorist along the northern border of Iraq...
he says fire all the 4 stars in command in Iraq...bring in a real killer referring to 4-star Shoomaker (since he was delta commander)...says he'll stop allowing our troops from being killed...
says pentagon needs to call countries telling them if we find one more of your citizens/subjects fighting in Iraq...we'll start taking your buildings out with missles one by one...
says CIA is rotating their folks 90 days this must stop...our troops are there 12-15 months...CIA can not rotate their troops.

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