Sean Penn pays $56,000 for ad attacking Bush war
Sean Penn has weighed in on the international debate over a possible war with Iraq, paying for a $56,000 advertisement Friday in The Washington Post accusing President Bush of stifling debate and threatening civil liberties, reports ABC News.
In an open letter to Bush taking up most of a page in the main section of the daily newspaper, the Oscar-nominated star of I Am Sam and Dead Man Walking urged the president to stop a cycle where “bombing is answered by bombing, mutilation by mutilation, killing by killing.”
”I beg you, help save America before yours is a legacy of shame and horror,” Penn wrote, echoing voices of caution from around the world that have called for a measured response to allegations Iraq is developing weapons of mass destruction.
Quoting Bush’s declaration that the world was either ”with us or against us” in the war on terrorism launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Penn, 42, said Bush was marginalizing critics, manipulating the media and promoting fear.