Angelina Jolie caused a media circus at a recent Iraq Policy event in Washington, DC. The controversial (at least at this site) actress appeared on a discussion panel to urge the increase of humanitarian aid to the country and to encourage the U.S. government to make good on its commitment to absorb a greater number of Iraqi refugees. The ballroom where the discussion happened was standing room only, and many attendees admitted that they probably wouldn’t have shown up to the event if Jolie hadn’t been there.

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.”

…Jolie gently scolded the Bush administration for its slow follow-through on absorbing Iraqi refugees. The United States took in 374 Iraqis in January, 444 in February and 751 in March — in a year in which it has pledged to take in 12,000 Iraqi refugees, she noted.

…James Gavrilis, who is on the Joint Chiefs staff at the Pentagon, said he would not have come by if not for Jolie. “I want to hear what her perspective is and how it’s different from the military and masculine perspective,” he said, quickly adding that, as an insider at the Pentagon, he already knew what Petraeus and Crocker would say in their testimony.

[From The Washington Post]

I don’t know how to feel about this. I’m sure Jolie is about to be bashed for this all day here at Celebitchy, but if anyone deserves bashing, it’s the American public at large for not giving a crap about this issue until a celebrity shows up to talk about it. Even Pentagon officials are admitting to being celeb gawkers. It’s really embarrassing. Jolie does bring up a good point that nobody in the Bush administration is talking about anymore, and that’s winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. Remember when that was every other sentence out of W.’s mouth four years ago- remember his plea to every school kid in America to send money and care packages to Iraqi kids? Whatever happened to that? It looks like “hearts and minds” took a backseat to other agendas, and as a result, you have celebs like Jolie making humanitarian visits and using their media status to get this issue back in the papers again.

Header image is of Angelina at the Vital Voices awards ceremony yesterday via The Washington Post.

A former supermodel/Bond girl who had gone missing for three days has been found. Waris Dirie, 43, is a Somali-born model who rose to fame in 1987 playing a Bond girl in “The Living Daylights” and starring in several Chanel ads. In 1996 she released a book “Desert Flower” that described her own circumcision with a rusty razor blade and no anesthesia. Since then Dirie has become a vocal advocate against female genital mutilation. She had been scheduled to deliver a speech in front of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Brussels at two women’s rights conferences when she suddenly went missing. Last week the body of Katoucha Niane, a Guinean-born model turned female genital mutilation activist was found floating in the River Seine in Paris – heightening fears for Dirie’s safety. The cause of her disappearance is still unclear, confusing, and suspicious.

Dirie’s manager, Walter Lutschinger, said the 43-year-old former model had been involved in an altercation early Wednesday after a taxi driver took her to the wrong branch of the Sofitel hotel chain. The police were called and drove Dirie around Brussels looking for the correct hotel because she had apparently forgotten where she was staying.

At one hotel, while staff and police were checking for her name on a computer, police said Dirie stepped out saying she planned to buy cigarettes from an all-night kiosk, but instead climbed into a Citroen Picasso taxi and drove away.

“She left with no credit card. She left with no cell phone, no passport. She has no papers on her, probably no money,” Lutschinger said before she was found. He did not return calls to his cell phone following Dirie’s discovery.

[From CNN]

In her speech, Dirie had been planning on criticizingly the European Union for not taking strong enough actions to eradicate female genital mutilation in Europe. On Friday she was scheduled to go to the Netherlands to receive an award for her work. Dirie was attacked in her apartment in 2005 by a deranged stalker, and given the nature of her work she is likely often in danger. It’s unclear if she was kidnapped or disappeared due to fears for her safety. Luckily she’s been found – but the death of fellow activist Katoucha Niane coupled with Dirie’s disappearance is certainly a strange coincidence, and possibly more.

Header image of Waris Dirie at the Cinema For Peace press conference at the Adlon Hotel in Berlin on February 10th, 2008. Images thanks to WENN.

Update by Celebitchy: Dirie was abducted by a cab driver and kept hostage at his apartment for two days. He reportedly attempted to rape her. She is in the hospital getting treated for injuries to her arms and legs. She cannot lift her left arm. It sounds very serious and I hope she’s ok. There’s no word yet if Dirie’s abduction was related to her work as an anti genital mutilation activist.