We at The List Project Blog are generally an average looking bunch, so we always appreciate it when someone more aesthetically gifted gives his or her megaphone to the plight of Iraqi refugees. Yesterday, as General David Patreus gave his much anticipated report to the Senate, Oscar-winning actress and humanitarian activist Angelina Jolie brought the issue of Iraqi child refugees to the forefront in an appearance before the Council on Foreign Relations.
Watch the video highlights online:
The Washington Post reports:
Angelina Jolie nearly stole the limelight from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker yesterday with her own remarks on Iraq at the Council on Foreign Relations, which had to move the standing-room-only event to the ballroom of the Washington Club to accommodate the crowd and television cameras. Paparazzi and gawkers swarmed outside.
The actress’s appearance on a panel discussing the plight of more than 1 million Iraqi child refugees was less upbeat than that of the U.S. officials who testified before two Senate committees yesterday.
“This population we’re talking about is the future of Iraq,” said Jolie, who has traveled twice to Iraq over the past year, as well as to Syria to visit Iraqi refugees. “So to reach them now, to help deal with their trauma and refocus their minds on a possible future should absolutely be one of our top priorities. We need these kids. . . . We need them to rebuild their country, to stabilize their country and eventually lead their country.”