IRAQ: ACTOR AND DIRECTOR SEAN PENN HAS BEEN TALKING ABOUT THE MESSAGES HE WILL TAKE BACK TO THE U.S. FROM HIS VISIT TO IRAQ/U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTORS VISIT SITES AT UM-ALMAARAK AND AL-NASR

Record ID: 647178

  • Title: IRAQ: ACTOR AND DIRECTOR SEAN PENN HAS BEEN TALKING ABOUT THE MESSAGES HE WILL TAKE BACK TO THE U.S. FROM HIS VISIT TO IRAQ/U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTORS VISIT SITES AT UM-ALMAARAK AND AL-NASR
  • Date: 15th December 2002
  • Summary: (W5) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (DECEMBER 15, 2002) (REUTERS- ACCESS ALL) 1. SV/MCU U.S. ACTOR-DIRECTOR SEAN PENN ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE/PHOTOGRAPHER (2 SHOTS) 0.14 2. MCU (English) PENN SAYING: "But I would say relative to bringing back my point of view to the White House or to the Congress: the first thing that I intend to do is to bring back my experience to my daughter, who's in the midst of a school report on Mesopotamia. Show her my pictures of the Tigris river, and bit by bit, as I said, let this impression sink in, and to the best of my ability, respond to any productive place for me to put my thoughts in words." 0.55 3. SV/LV PRESS CONFERENCE (2 SHOTS) 1.05 (W4) UM-ALMAARAK INSTALLATION, AL-YOUSFIYA, IRAQ (DECEMBER 15, 2002) (REUTERS- ACCESS ALL) 4. LV U.N. VEHICLES ON THEIR WAY TO UM-ALMAARAK SITE 1.15 5. CU U.N. FLAG FLYING 1.19 6. SLV CONVOY OF U.N. VEHICLES DRIVING INTO INSTALLATION COMPOUND 1.30 7. SLV/SV/CU INTERIORS OF UM-ALMAARAK INSTALLATION AND MACHINES (6 SHOTS) 1.58 (W4) AL-NASIR COMPANY, 20KM NORTH OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ (DECEMBER 15, 2002) (REUTERS ACCESS-ALL) 8. SLV INSPECTORS DRIVING DOWN ROAD 2.09 9. SLV INSPECTORS ARRIVING AT AL-NASR COMPANY 2.17 10. PAN/SV EXTERIORS OF AL-NASR COMPANY (5 SHOTS) 2.46 11. SLV INSPECTORS LEAVING THE COMPANY 2.54 12. MCU (Arabic) DIRECTOR OF COMPANY SPEAKING TO REPORTERS, SAYING: "We presented for them everything they asked for and they entered into the company and they were sure that the plant didn't produce prohibited missiles." 3.10 13. LV/SLV/PAN INTERIORS OF AL-NASIR COMPANY (5 SHOTS) 3.42 (W4) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (DECEMBER 15, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 14. SLV EXTERIOR OF AL-HAYAT TOWER HOTEL 3.45 15. SV/CU OF INSPECTORS AT RECEPTION INSIDE THE HOTEL, MEMBER OF HOTEL STAFF LOOKING AT U.N. PASSPORTS (4 SHOTS) 4.07 16. SV INSPECTORS MOVING SUITCASES INTO ELEVATOR 4.16 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 30th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AL-YOUSFIYA, AL-NASIR COMPANY NEAR BAGHDAD AND BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA998QULGB06B54K61ZCO0UIMJA
  • Story Text: In Baghdad, the U.S. actor and director Sean Penn has
    been talking about the messages he will take back to the
    United States from his visit to Iraq. U.N. weapons inspectors
    have visited sites at Um-Almaarak and Al-Nasr.



    U.S.actor-director Sean Penn, visiting Baghdad, explained
    at a press conference what messages he will take back to the
    United States from his visit to Iraq.

    Asked about what views he would express to the United
    States government, he said "But I would say relative to
    bringing back my point of view to the White House or to the
    Congress: the first thing that I intend to do is to bring back
    my experience to my daughter, who's in the midst of a school
    report on Mesopotamia. Show her my pictures of the Tigris
    river, and bit by bit, as I said, let this impression sink in,
    and to the best of my ability, respond to any productive place
    for me to put my thoughts in words."
    Penn arrived on his three-day visit to the country on
    Friday (December 13) saying he wanted more insight into "this
    frightening conflict". On this first day, he visited the
    Al-Mansour hospital for children in Baghdad and on Saturday
    (December 14) he visited the Al-Wathba Water Treatment
    Facility in the city.

    The Oscar nominee paid for a 56,000 U.S. dollar
    advertisement in the Washington Post in October accusing U.S.

    President George W. Bush of stifling debate on Iraq.

    The advertisement took the form of an open letter to Bush
    in which he urged the president to stop a cycle where "bombing
    is answered by bombing, mutilation by mutilation, killing by
    killing".

    In an earlier interview given in Baghdad on Sunday
    (December 15) Penn said he would rejoin the debate about Iraq
    taking place in the United States when he returns from his
    trip.

    The United States has threatened to go to war with Iraq
    unless it abandons its alleged programme to aquire weapons of
    mass destruction.

    The United Nations inspections in Iraq continue and scores
    of U.N. arms inspectors combed at least three suspect sites
    for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq on Sunday (December
    15).

    Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
    drove to Um al-Maarek (Mother of Battles), once a nuclear
    research centre run by the Military Industrialisation
    Commission, about 15 km (nine miles) south of Baghdad.

    Teams from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and
    Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) targeted at least two other
    sites, Iraqi officials said. All three have been inspected
    before.

    One team visited Nasr (Victory) complex in Taji area, 25
    km (15 miles) north of Baghdad. Long-range Scud missile
    components were reported to have been produced at this
    location. The director of the company said: "We presented for
    them everything they asked for and they entered into the
    company and they were sure that the plant didn't produce
    prohibited missiles."
    Iraq, which denies having banned weapons, gave the United
    Nations a huge dossier on its arms programmes last weekend in
    line with a Security Council resolution threatening serious
    consequences if it fails to cooperate with the inspectors.

    More inspectors arrived at the al-Hayat Tower Hotel in
    Baghdad on Sunday (December 15) morning.


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