Baghdad, Iraq -- To the delight of nearly 130,000 U.S. soldiers
serving in Iraq, home-wrecking actress Angelina
Jolie is visiting troops this week to boost what she sees as lagging efforts to
deal with the problems of 2 million "very, very cute, yet vulnerable" internally
displaced people in the war-torn country.
Jolie, who’s high school equivalency degree from the City of Newark certainly qualifies her for her role as a goodwill
ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, has been working to
focus attention on problem of refugees in Iraq.
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"There doesn't seem to be a real coherent plan to help
them," said Jolie, as she used crayons to draw strategy plans on the side
of a faded 1981 Datsun 720. “See, there's lots of goodwill. Lots of discussion,
and a lot of pieces that need to be put together. I'm trying to figure out what
they are. I love puzzles. Such neat shapes!"
Wearing a hot pink two-piece bikini and wrapped in a black
velour pashmina shawl that she purchased at Barney’s in London, while Jolie said
she is focused on finding WMDs and wants to find ways to be more active inside
war-torn Iraq, soldiers were simply happy for the memories.
“I’m really excited to see her,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col.
Jonathan Vance from Cuba, Ala. “It gets lonely
here. Most of the women we come across are draped in these funny black sheets
and we can’t see any goodies. Now Angie comes in wearing that hot number – that’s
some good memories for me to use for at least 10 to 12 weeks.”
Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence in the country has sparked a
displacement crisis that is considered the most significant in the Middle East
since the 1948 creation of Israel. More than 4.2 million Iraqis have fled their homes, around 2
million to neighboring states, mostly Syria
and Jordan, and another 2.2
million displaced inside Iraq.
While carrying seven children of varying races simply to enhance her sense of self importance, Jolie was clear she understands the challenges, "Iraq
is a country. A country populated by many Iraqis. And how those Iraqis settle
in the years to come is going to affect the entire Middle East, where Iraq is
located. Right in the Middle East."
Jolie has been working to help draw attention to the problem by
putting on car washes at local Exxon-Mobil gas stations, and has called for
governments to bolster their support of native dance. In August, Jolie first
visited Iraq and Syria to get a
sense of the local palette so that she could bring home native recipes for
husband Brad Pitt, but has since read stories in the New York Post about refugees
about their plight.