An Open Letter to the President, Four and a Half Years Later by Sean Penn

The actor Sean Penn recently made these linked remarks at Congresswoman Barbara Lee's March 24 Town Hall Meeting on the 4th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and then posted them to his blog at huffingtonpost.com. Penn's remarks are poignant not merely because he is a celebrity, but because he has also traveled to Iraq after the occupation, outside the Disney World Green Zone, and talked to real Iraqis who aren't stage puppets in a Potempkin Village. Here is an excerpt:

"Four and a half years ago, I addressed the issue of war in an open letter to our President. Today I would like to again speak to him and his, directly. Mr. President, Mr. Cheney, Ms. Rice et al: Indeed America has a rich history of greatness -indeed, America is still today a devastating military superpower.

And because, in the absence of a competent or brave Congress, of a mobilized citizenry, that level of power lies in your hands, it is you who have misused it to become our country's and our constitution's most devastating enemy. You have broken our country and our hearts. 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."

To read his entire open letter, click on this article's title or
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