- Actor and director
- Member of Not In Our Name and Artists United to Win Without War
- Mentored by Marxist Norman Solomon
- Has spent huge sums on ads criticizing U.S. policies
WorldNetDaily.com reports the following:
“Muslim terror leaders are hailing statements by actor Sean Penn regarding Iran, the war in Iraq and the global war on terror, stating militants have ‘deep respect’ for Penn and urging Americans to listen to the outspoken Hollywood activist immediately. One senior jihadist leader even asked Penn to officially represent his terror organization's cause to the world media.
“‘I tell Penn that we don't have the money that the Zionists have, therefore we don't own and we don't have access to your media, and we hope you would ... represent our pain and our cause,’ stated Abu Hamed, northern Gaza Strip commander of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades …
“[Author Aaron] Klein read to the terrorists a series of Penn's political statements – which they applauded -- such as a recent open letter Penn sent to President Bush condemning the Iraq War, calling for Bush's impeachement and labeling Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ‘villainously and criminally obscene people.’ …
“Klein also had a 2007 speech Penn delivered in solidarity with Iran translated into Arabic and read for the terror leaders. ‘Let me tell you something about Iran,’ [said Penn] ‘because I've been there and you haven't. Iran is a great country. A great country. Does it have its haters? You bet. Just like the United States has its haters. Just like the United States has a corrupt regime. Does it want a nuclear weapon? Maybe. Do we have one? You bet,’ stated Penn.
“Penn goes on to refer to the war in Iraq as an ‘occupational war ... In that country of 25 million, these children have now suffered a rainstorm of civilian death around and among them totaling the equivalent of 200 September Elevenths in just four years of war. Two hundred 9/11s. Two hundred 9/11s.’
“Responding, Ala Senakreh, West Bank chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, stated he feels ‘deep respect for Penn and people like him that prove that America is not only the country that sponsors the Israeli terrorists and all evil forces in the world, but also a country of brave people who want a different policy based on justice and peace.’ …
“Ramadan Adassi, chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the northern West Bank Anskar refugee camp, said Penn's words ‘express dignity, express a deep humanitarian sense and this doesn't surprise me when it comes from an actor who has had to develop the sense of feeling. We hope Penn is somebody who can design a different public opinion. Penn must continue in his battle, which is very important because it is rare to see important people who criticize Bush, who is planning now to throw the American soldiers in the Iranian hell,’ stated Adassi.”
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Sean Penn is an “A-list” actor/director who has starred in such films as Mystic River, Dead Man Walking, 21 Grams, and The Thin Red Line. He is an outspoken member of the leftwing Hollywood elite, an adamant critic of George W. Bush, and a staunch opponent of the war against Iraq.
A member of Not In Our Name and Artists United to Win Without War, Penn is a supporter of MoveOn.org. He has spent tens of thousands of dollars on advertisements criticizing the war on Iraq and U.S. foreign policy generally. In an ad that ran in the Washington Post on October 27, 2002, Penn wrote an “Open Letter to the President of the United States of America,” in which he told Mr. Bush the following:
“Many of your actions to date and those proposed seem to violate every defining principle of this country over which you preside: intolerance of debate (‘with us or against us’); marginalization of your critics; the promoting of fear through unsubstantiated rhetoric; manipulation of a quick comfort media; and the position of your administration’s deconstruction of civil liberties all contradict the very core of the patriotism you claim. You lead, it seems, through a blood-lined sense of entitlement. Take a close look at your most vehement media supporters. See the fear in their eyes as their loud voices of support ring out with that historically disastrous undercurrent of rage and panic masked as ‘straight tough talk.’ How far have we come from understanding what it is to kill one man, one woman, or one child, much less the ‘collateral damage’ of many hundreds of thousands. Your use of the words, ‘this is a new kind of war’ is often accompanied by an odd smile.”
Penn followed the ad with a much publicized visit to Baghdad, arm-in-arm with radical leader, Medea Benjamin, founder of Global Exchange and International Occupation Watch, an organization run in Iraq by a Saddam-era journalist and dedicated to undermining the American effort to create a stable postwar regime. Penn’s Baghdad trip was organized by the Institute for Public Accuracy, whose Marxist executive director, Norman Solomon, is Penn’s mentor.
Penn claims that because of his anti-war views, he has been “blacklisted” by Hollywood producers. He filed suit against producer Steve Bing, who had fired Penn from the leading role in a film called Why Men Shouldn’t Marry. Penn asked for $10 million in damages.
At Rep. Barbara Lee’s March 24, 2007, Town Hall Meeting in Oakland, California, Penn made a lengthy speech during which he said the following:
“Mr. President, Mr. Cheney, Ms. Rice et al … The needless blood on your hands, and therefore, on our own, is drowning the freedom, the security, and the dream that America might have been, once healed of and awakened by, the tragedy of September 11, 2001. … We cower as you point fingers telling us to ‘support our troops.’ Well, you and the smarmy pundits in your pocket, those who bathe in the moisture of your soiled and bloodstained underwear, can take that noise and shove it. We will be snowed no more. Let's make this crystal clear. We do support our troops in our stand, while you exploit them and their families. The verdict is in. You lied, connived, and exploited your own countrymen and most of all, our troops. “
“You, Misters Bush and Cheney; you, Ms. Rice, are villainously and criminally obscene people, obscene human beings, incompetent even to fulfill your own self-serving agenda, while tragically neglectful and destructive of ours and our country's. … I've met children [in Iraq]. In that country of 25 million, these children have now suffered minimally, a rainstorm of civilian death around and among them totaling the equivalent of two hundred September 11ths in just four years of war. Two hundred 9/11s. Two hundred 9/11s.
“You want to rattle sabers toward Iran now? Let me tell you something about Iran, because I've been there and you haven't. Iran is a great country. A great country. Does it have its haters? You bet. Just like the United States has its haters. Does it have a corrupt regime? You bet. Just like the United States has a corrupt regime. Does it want a nuclear weapon? Maybe. Do we have one? You bet. But the people of Iran are great people. And if we give that corrupt leadership, (by attacking Iran militarily) the opportunity to unify that great country in hatred against us, we'll have been giving up one of our most promising future allies in decades. If you really know anything about Iran, you know exactly what I'm referring to. Of course your administration belittles diplomatic potential there, as those options rely on a credibility and geopolitical influence that you have aggressively squandered worldwide.
“…Without impeachment, justice cannot prevail. …As things stand today, I will be voting for Dennis Kucinich, who has fought this war from the beginning. You might say Kucinich can't win. Well, we have an opportunity to re-establish the credibility of democracy as viewed by the world at large.”
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