The actor and director Sean Penn arrived in Baghdad on Friday morning at the start of a three-day visit to Iraq.

"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 a statement released in Washington and Baghdad on Friday. "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 (at least attempt) to find my own voice on matters of conscience."

Penn's visit to Iraq has been organized by the Institute for Public Accuracy, a national U.S. organization of policy analysts with offices in San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2002