bryant

As pretty much everyone who cares knows by now, Sean Penn recently visited Iraq and was promptly used by Saddam Hussein for propaganda purposes. You have to hope he wasn't surprised by this. I thought it might be interesting to see what he actually said, though, since it's been somewhat under-reported. Quotes are from various sources; search Google (for the next 30 days or so, at least) for cites.

"I am a citizen of the United States of America. I believe in the Constitution of the United States, and the American people. Ours is a government designed to function ‘of’-‘by’-and-‘for’ the people. I am one of those people, and a privileged one."

I have to admire his awareness of his own privilege. He knows he's a star. He knows he gets special treatment.

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

Laudable.

"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."

Can't find much to object to here, honestly. He's explicitly saying that Hussein has work to do if he wants to avoid war.

"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."

"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."

And these two I like most of all. He's in a position to find out more about what's going on, he's aware that he's lucky to be able to do that, and he's not going to sit around Hollywood talking about stuff he hasn't seen personally. He's going to check it out and see what he can learn. He knows war kills people. He knows our troops will die if there's a war. He has the chance to understand better what American troops are dying for -- on his behalf -- and he takes it.

I don't have to agree with his politics, and I suspect there are issues where he and I might differ. I do have to admire his willingness to accept his personal responsibility for the government in which he participates.

"In response to these privileges I feel, both as an American and as a human being, the obligation to accept some level of personal responsibility for the policies of my government, both those I support and any that I may not."