Clooney takes Dems to task for being timid

Clooney takes Demsto task for being timid
LOS ANGELES -- George Clooney has faulted Democrats for their timidity in the months before the start of the Iraq war, saying many party leaders muted their criticism of the Bush administration rather than risk being branded as unpatriotic.
"The fear of [being] criticized can be paralyzing. Just look at the way so many Democrats caved in the run-up to the war," Clooney said Monday in a profanity-laced posting on The Huffington Post blog site.
"In 2003, a lot of us were saying, 'Where is the link between Saddam and bin Laden? What does Iraq have to do with 9/11?"' Clooney wrote. "We have to agree that it's not unpatriotic to hold our leaders accountable and to speak out."
Clooney's latest films, "Syriana," for which he won an Oscar for best supporting actor, and "Good Night, and Good Luck," which he starred in and directed, have been viewed as critiques of the state of U.S. policy domestically and overseas.
"Good Night, and Good Luck" focuses on CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow's battles with Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the communist witch hunt in the 1950s.
In the Web posting, Clooney, 44, said, "When you hear Murrow say, 'We mustn't confuse dissent with disloyalty' ... it's like he's commenting on today's headlines."
Colombian ambassadorresponds to Willis remarks
BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombia's ambassador to the United States has criticized Bruce Willis for comments the actor made during a press conference to promote his new film, "16 Blocks."
The 50-year-old actor said the United States should consider "going to Colombia and doing whatever it takes to end the cocaine trade."
In a harshly worded letter made public Friday, Andres Pastrana told Willis the source of the lucrative cocaine trade was an "enormous appetite for drugs, in particular in the United States and Europe."
Willis' publicist in Los Angeles declined to comment.
Pastrana, who as president in 2000 launched an anti-drug effort with billions in aid from the United States, added that no country has sacrificed more than his own to rein in drug trafficking. Every year, he said, thousands of innocent civilians are killed as a result of anti-drug efforts.
Inviting Willis to visit Colombia, Pastrana said, "If you accept, you will see that, beyond Hollywood clich & eacute;s, 44 million Colombians are waging a real war against drugs."
Today's birthdays
Former astronaut Frank Borman is 78. Singer Phil Phillips is 75. Actor Michael Caine is 73. Composer-conductor Quincy Jones is 73. Former astronaut Eugene Cernan is 72. Movie director Wolfgang Petersen is 65. Country singer Michael Martin Murphey is 61. Rock musician Walt Parazaider (Chicago) is 61. Actor Steve Kanaly is 60. Comedian Billy Crystal is 58. Country singer Jann Browne is 52. Actor Adrian Zmed is 52. Prince Albert of Monaco is 48. Actress Tamara Tunie is 47. Actress Penny Johnson Jerald is 45. Producer-director-writer Kevin Williamson is 41. Actress Megan Follows is 38. Rock musician Derrick (Jimmie's Chicken Shack) is 34. Actor Jake Fogelnest is 27. Actor Chris Klein is 27. Actress Kate Maberly is 24. Singer-musician Taylor Hanson (Hanson) is 23.