Baghdad
On a personal fact-finding mission to Iraq, Sean Penn said he’d been moved by the plight of the Iraqi people and believed that war was avoidable. His three-day trip included stops at a children’s hospital and a water-treatment plant as well as a meeting with Iraqi officials. “As a father, an actor, a filmmaker, and a patriot,” Penn said, he made the trip “to see the human face of the Iraqi people.’’ He called on both the U.S. and Iraq to make all efforts to avoid a war. Saddam Hussein’s regime promptly reported that Penn had “confirmed that Iraq is completely clear of weapons of mass destruction” and that he had said he would tell Americans to “force the U.S. administration to stop such aggressive campaign.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Venezuela’s Trump-shaped power vacuumIN THE SPOTLIGHT The American abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has thrust South America’s biggest oil-producing state into uncharted geopolitical waters
-
Most data centers are being built in the wrong climateThe explainer Data centers require substantial water and energy. But certain locations are more strained than others, mainly due to rising temperatures.
-
‘Maps are the ideal metaphor for our models of what the world might be’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
