Angelina Jolie, “…we cannot afford…to squander the progress…”
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Congratulations and thank you to a celebrity that has used her voice to point out what is really happening on the ground. Jolie reported what she saw and was told by people there and didn’t push a liberal, anti-America agenda that so many from Hollywood do today.
Before me is the article written by Angelina Jolie and published in the Washington Post.com opinions page. It is titled “Staying to Help in Iraq”. I hate it when I see quotes taken out of context so let me give you the complete quote that I’ve paraphrased in the title above. In the article Jolie stated, “What we cannot afford, in my view, is to squander the progress that has been made.” She goes on to say that we should step up our financial and material assistance.
Jolie is not only an actress but is a humanitarian activist and a United Nations good will ambassador. She works with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Her article is about the Iraqi refugees still in Iraq and those that fled the country. It is her opinion that we have now reached a point in Iraq where humanitarian assistance can be effective.
The progress that she refers to is the progress made by the “surge” that has been effective in recent months in reducing our military losses and increasing security overall in Iraq. She met with Gen. David Petraeus and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. She even talked with American troops. Jolie feels that our recent success in Iraq has paved the way for increased humanitarian assistance and has asked for more money and effort in that area.
“As for the question of whether the surge is working, I can only state what I witnessed: U.N. staff and those of non-governmental organizations seem to feel they have the right set of circumstances to attempt to scale up their programs”, reported Jolie. Thank you for that, Ms. Jolie. Thank you for your honesty and the integrity to be on point with your stated goal. I hope that you are successful in your attempts to help the Iraqi refugees. With the continued help and support of the American government and military you will be successful.
Wait; let me qualify that about the American government. Barak Obama and Hilliary Clinton may put a stop to the good we’re doing in Iraq. They both promise that they’ll pull us out. Senator Reid and Representative Pelosi think our troops are murders and terrorists. Senator Kerry says we are the bad guys. Maybe, Ms. Jolie you should just count on the troops that you spoke to. The ones you said about, “And when I asked the troops if they wanted to go home as soon as possible, they said that they miss home but feel invested in Iraq. They have lost many friends and want to be part of the humanitarian progress they now feel is possible”.
Democrats and far too many Republicans have demonized President Bush and our military; I wonder how fast these same folks will rush to take credit for the humanitarian progress being made and that Ms. Jolie seems to think can now increase?
Comment by Barney on 1 March 2008:
Jolie is setting a dangerous precedent by giving credit to the USA. Such things dissemble the entire ethos so carefully cultivated for decades in Hollyweird that the US is bad and only its shallow celebrity see the shining path to righeousness.
Pingback by Angelina Jolie » Angelina Jolie, “…we cannot afford…to squander the progress…” on 1 March 2008:
[...] Michael wrote an interesting post today on Angelina Jolie, â
Comment by neil on 2 March 2008:
Jolie is like most of us, neither Democrat or Republican. She is just a person who wants her government to be responsible and humane. The problem is neither side, with their spin machines, can ever sit still for that; “You be for us or you be agin us! There be no between!”
Pingback by Angelina Jolie, “…we cannot afford…to squander the progress…” | Angelina Jolie Celebrity News on 2 March 2008:
[...] on this story here Your Daily Local [...]
Comment by Steve on 3 March 2008:
With all due respect to Ms. Jolie, I think I’ll take MY judgement on Iraq over her perception of how things are going over there. There was nothing noble in our decision to invade Iraq. We didn’t go there to free them, or to rid the world of Saddam’s menace. The US government painted themselves into a corner nearly 40 years ago when Nixon struck a deal with the Saudis whereby all sales of oil throughout the world had to be transacted in US dollars. This made the US dollar the reserve currency of the world, thereby ensuring the value of the dollar would be strong. Well, Saddam threatened this by selling his oil in Euros and other currencies out of protest for the sanctions the US government put on him after we betrayed his trust in the 1st Gulf war. Yes folks, Saddam actully consulted the Us government BEFORE invading Kuwait (who was stealing Iraq’s oil, by the way) and the US gave him the ok to do so. Then, we stabbed him in the back and proceeded with a military coalition against him. Very underhanded, and contrived.
In any case, for those of you who still think our government is noble, you might want to check into the reason why we’re still threatening Iran for their non-existent nuclear weapons ambitions. I’ll give you a clue where to start… Google “Iranian Oil Bourse”. This should clue you in to the perilous situation our dollar is currently in. Witht he value dropping every day, our government is willing to start another war withIran to salvage what little value there is left in the dollar. McCain knows this is the real reason, yet he’s continuing to lie to all of us so that we will back his decision to go to war with Iran. Hillary and Obama are on board with this too. The onyl difference with them is that they are inclined to save some money and just bomb the hell out of them and leave. Sounds bad, yes, but the Republican occupation isn’t any more noble.
Then when you’re done looking into Iran, check to see why our government is also villafying Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. He was democratically elected, and yet we’re trashing him as if he’s the 2nd coming of Hitler. Is he really that bad, or could it possibly be that he’s been using oil for purposes of TRADING with other countries, basically bypassing the process of purchasing oil which again would require the use of US dollars. Hmm, there certainly seems to be a pattern here.
So for those of you who are claiming that Hollywood has some agenda to make the US government the “bad guys”, maybe you should do a little research into our government before you dismiss this as “liberal propoganda”. You might just be surprised at what you find out.
P.S. And while you’re at it, google “The Council on Foreign Relations” (the organization that Ms. Jolie is the good will embassador for) and see what they are up to. I think you’ll find that their intentions for America are a whole lot less noble than they like to make themsevlves out to be. And once you do, look at the list of their members. You’ll find John McCain and Hillary Clinton there. Obama is coming soon if not already, and Mike Huckabee is a new convert to the group. He realized it made good piltical sense for him to join. How convenient, seeing as how he’s running for VP.
Comment by Michael on 3 March 2008:
Oh My! Steve, take a breath! You sir, should do some research. Just this morning the UN and the inspectors that are trying to monitor Iran’s nuclear program stated that Iran is blocking their attempts to monitor whether they are in fact developing weapons grade uranium. In fact it was also stated that there may be evidence that Iran was indeed trying to develop a nuke in spite of the recent intelligence report (released in Dec) that said otherwise.
How can you bear to live in such a horrible country as the US? If indeed you do live here. Since we are the scourge of the earth why not go somewhere else? Find a country that the US isn’t sending millions of tax dollars to so that you can be free of the nasty ol’ US?!! Maybe you can live with Mr. Chavez whom you seem to admire. Of course there is no free press there and you wouldn’t be allowed to be critical of him or his policies. How about Iran…no you wouldn’t be free to express your opinions there either. Russia! That’s it…no they’re regressing to cold war operations–check out the ‘free’ election they just had. Well, you’ll figure it out. Good luck.
Comment by Marcus on 5 March 2008:
Bravo Michael. I’m not American and don’t live in the USA but agree with you completely. This cultivation of “guilt” of the USA - for everything bad that happens in the world - is just totally ridiculous. It’s especially popular in the countries wiith irresponsible and corrupted authoritative regimes - who are having a problems (naturally) and wants their people to hate some “enemy” outside not in their own country. (and the powerful and rich US are a “natural target” of course for such cultivated hate and bitter jealousy). As about Americans who supports this, it is my strong opinion that the simple reason is they never lived in Russia (i did), or China, or Venezuela, or Cuba. I would recommend such people to go there - at least for a few months… i bet it will be very educative experience for them…