Hollywood star Sean Penn visits children's hospital in Baghdad

December 14, 2002

BAGHDAD ( AFP ) - US actor and filmmaker Sean Penn visited a children's hospital in Baghdad, on the first day of a visit to Iraq to forge "a deeper understanding of the conflict."

The Hollywood star stayed an hour and a half in al-Mansur Hospital, visiting many child leukaemia victims and premature babies.

He talked to the doctors and took pictures, but made no comment to the press, explaining that he wished to avoid public exposure and focus on understanding the conflict.

His three-day visit to Iraq was announced earlier Friday in a press release from the Institute of Public Accuracy, a US organisation of policy analysts which organized the trip.

"By the invitation of the Institute for Public Accuracy, I have the privileged opportunity to pursue a deeper understanding of this frightening conflict," Penn said in the press release.

"I would hope that all Americans will embrace information available to them outside conventional channels. As a father, an actor, a filmmaker and a patriot, my visit to Iraq is for me a natural extension of my obligation to (at least attempt to) find my own voice on matters of conscience."

The Institute for Public Accuracy already sponsored a Baghdad visit by US House of Representatives member Nick Rahall in September in a bid to "give peace a chance."

The San Francisco, California-based organization describes itself as a group seeking to "broaden public discourse by gaining media access for those whose perspectives are commonly drowned out by corporate-backed think tanks and other influential institutions."