I know that I’ve made fun of Hollywood stars who have come out and said a lot of really stupid things. Of course they have as much a right to their opinions as anyone else. But since they are in the public eye and choose to make their opinions known publicly, they are subject to public ridicule. That’s how it works.

Every once in a while one shows some maturity when they speak out and actually make sense. Angelina Jolie has been no stranger to controversy and since she grew up in the public eye has had every misadventure of her life splattered all over the tabloids. It appears now that she’s grown up a little bit and is exhibiting a sense of responsibility to give something back to the country that gave her the opportunities she’s had and to the world at large. Good for her.

As I’ve written before, she’s shown signs of supporting our Troops. She’s also visited our Troops in Iraq as part of her role as a figure head for humanitarian efforts of the U.N. I have to give her credit where credit is due.

Now she’s written an opinion piece about why we need to stay in Iraq until the job is done. She bases her opinions from her trips to the region and her talks with our Troops and both American and Iraqi officials.

My visit left me even more deeply convinced that we not only have a moral obligation to help displaced Iraqi families, but also a serious, long-term, national security interest in ending this crisis.

and ….

As for the question of whether the surge is working, I can only state what I witnessed: U.N. staff and those of non-governmental organizations seem to feel they have the right set of circumstances to attempt to scale up their programs. And when I asked the troops if they wanted to go home as soon as possible, they said that they miss home but feel invested in Iraq. They have lost many friends and want to be a part of the humanitarian progress they now feel is possible.

It seems to me that now is the moment to address the humanitarian side of this situation. Without the right support, we could miss an opportunity to do some of the good we always stated we intended to do.

Read her article here.

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