Sean Penn: Media Lap Dogs Backed Iraq Mess

[marmar]

from ABC News via CommonDreams:



Published on Thursday, March 20, 2008 by ABC News
Penn’s War: Media Lap Dogs Backed Iraq Mess
Actor Narrates a New Documentary That Indicts U.S. Involvement in Iraq
by Susan Donaldson James


Sean Penn, the actor-director-turned-political-activist, narrates a new anti-war documentary that alleges U.S. presidents since Kennedy have manipulated the public to wage wars.

The searing documentary coincides with the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and asserts that the mainstream media have been cheerleaders for a war that has cost the nation — according to Department of Defense figures this week — 3,980 lives.

The star, who won for best actor in the 2003 film “Mystic River,” has been an outspoken critic of the war, often calling it “Dante’s Inferno.”

This week, “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” has been released for home entertainment to distributors like Amazon and Best Buy and on Netflix. The film premiered in New York City, Saturday.

Penn, 47, has toured Iraq twice — once just before the Bush administration stepped up drumbeats for the war in December 2002, and also as a correspondent for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Written and directed by Loretta Alper and Jeremy Earp, the film weaves archival footage from World War II to the Iraq War. It is based on the book by the same name, written in 2005 by Norman Solomon, founder and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy.

‘No One Else Has the Guts to Go’

“I invited Sean Penn out of the blue, when no one else had the guts to go,” Solomon told ABCNEWS.com. “When I worked on the film, I contacted him and he didn’t hesitate at all. He donated his time, his work and his reputation.” .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/20/7780/

[acmavm]

1. ALL the media lapdogs supported this killing-fest of innocent people. I

saw something here early this a.m. that tried to make it look like the NYT and WP knew better and were anti Shock and Awe.

That was absolute bullshit. All the major msm outlets in this fucking country were gung ho rah-rah-rah as the first bombs were dropping on an innocent populace.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. I love Sean Penn nt

[Solly Mack]

3. :)

[stellanoir]

4. a true hero

swoon

made my oft mentioned imaginary Ipod in my cranium shuffle to this. . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eErbmvUwgZE

[iris5426]

9. wow.

i never saw that before. I got chills. Thanks...

[stellanoir]

10. Yeah he wrote it in the 80's and it was a rocker.

He reissued it a short while ago in the acoustic style and his voice was so much more powerful than the earlier version. IMHO

Hope you got chills in a good way.

>>>>>>>>>>>Here's an imaginary cyber cuppa for ya.

You are very welcome.

[iris5426]

11. Yes good chills :-)

Another oldie that gives me chills these days:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fpuyXdKx9Ws

Steppenwolf - Monster/Suicide/America

(Monster)
Once the religious, the hunted and weary
Chasing the promise of freedom and hope
Came to this country to build a new vision
Far from the reaches of kingdom and pope
Like good Christians, some would burn the witches
Later some got slaves to gather riches

But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light

And once the ties with the crown had been broken
Westward in saddle and wagon it went
And 'til the railroad linked ocean to ocean
Many the lives which had come to an end
While we bullied, stole and bought our a homeland
We began the slaughter of the red man

But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light

The blue and grey they stomped it
They kicked it just like a dog
And when the war over
They stuffed it just like a hog

And though the past has it's share of injustice
Kind was the spirit in many a way
But it's protectors and friends have been sleeping
Now it's a monster and will not obey

(Suicide)
The spirit was freedom and justice
And it's keepers seem generous and kind
It's leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won't pay it no mind
'Cause the people grew fat and got lazy
And now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about law and order
But it's all just an echo of what they've been told
Yeah, there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watchin'

Our cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin' the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand
We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole worlds got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner
We can't pay the cost
'Cause there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watching

(America)
America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster

© Copyright MCA Music (BMI)
All rights for the USA controlled and administered by
MCA Corporation of America, INC

[PA Democrat]

5. War is great for the ratings of TV News, especially the 24 hour news channels.

It's all about money, not patriotism or supporting the troops. Remember all the glitzy graphics and promos for their war coverage? It made me sick then and still makes me sick now.

[NewJeffCT]

6. I think presidents & the media have been manipulating us to war

since before Kennedy. The Spanish-American war? World War 1 was sold to us as well.

[pleah]

7. K&R!

[calimary]

8. He's correct, of course. Lapdogs, not watchdogs. They got completely rolled. And

some of them still haven't woken up. What a disgrace...

I just wrote about that, myself.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3036868