BAGHDAD, December 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. actor and filmmaker, Sean Penn, visited a children's hospital in Baghdad Friday, December 13, on the first day of a visit to Iraq to forge "a deeper understanding of the conflict."

The Hollywood star stayed an hour and a half in al-Mansur Hospital, visiting many child leukemia victims and premature babies, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

He talked to the doctors and took pictures, but made no comment to the press, explaining that he wished to avoid public exposure and focus on understanding the conflict.

Iraqi officials say that the United States used bombs and missiles containing depleted uranium during the 1991 Gulf War, which led to many people developing fatal diseases.

His three-day visit to Iraq was announced earlier Friday in a press release from the Institute of Public Accuracy, a U.S. organization of policy analysts which organized the trip.

"By the invitation of the Institute for Public Accuracy, I have the privileged opportunity to pursue a deeper understanding of this frightening conflict," Penn said in the press release.

"I would hope that all Americans will embrace information available to them outside conventional channels.

"As a father, an actor, a filmmaker and a patriot, my visit to Iraq is for me a natural extension of my obligation to find my own voice on matters of conscience."

In October, Penn addressed an open letter to U.S. President George W. Bush asking him to give U.N. weapons inspectors a chance to prove Iraq has no banned weapons.

The Institute for Public Accuracy already sponsored a Baghdad visit by U.S. House of Representatives member Nick Rahall in September in a bid to "give peace a chance."

The San Francisco, California-based organization describes itself as a group seeking to "broaden public discourse by gaining media access for those whose perspectives are commonly drowned out by corporate-backed think tanks and other influential institutions."

About 100 U.S. television and film stars including Matt Damon, Anjelica Huston and Martin Sheen signed a petition released Tuesday, December 10, against a possible U.S.-led war against Iraq, warning that “war talk in Washington is alarming and unnecessary.”

Samuel L. Jackson, Mia Farrow, Kim Basinger, Uma Thurman, Tim Robbins and rockers REM also put their names on the list of those opposed to such a U.S.-led strike.

Stars delivered the petition to the press at a Hollywood restaurant frequented by stars; on hand was Martin Sheen, who plays a fictional U.S. president on the NBC television series “The West Wing.”

In Washington “they made up their minds a long time ago about going to war. (It’s a) personal feud, that’s part of it,” said Sheen alluding to the Gulf War under then President George Bush, father of the incumbent, which did not bring down Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The petition, also signed by retired admiral Eugene Carroll and Edward Peck, a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, was announced at a news conference hosted by Mike Farrell, who is co-founder of a new group called Artists United to Win Without War.

Mike Farrell said “a tendency of this administration is to imply that anyone who opposes them is somehow less loyal and patriotic. That’s not right.”

“We support rigorous U.N. weapons inspections to assure Iraq’s effective disarmament.

“However, a preemptive military invasion of Iraq will harm American national interests,” said the signatories in their letter.

“Such a war will increase human suffering, arouse animosity toward our country, increase the likelihood of terrorist attacks, damage the economy, and undermine our moral standing in the world. It will make us less, not more, secure.

“We reject the doctrine - a reversal of long-held American tradition that our country, alone, has the right to launch first-strike attacks,” read the letter.

The signatories underlined that the “valid U.S. and U.N. objective of disarming Saddam Hussein can be achieved through legal diplomatic means.