'Sean Penn's an idiot and a fool': Falklands hero Simon Weston hits back at bleeding heart actor's explosive remarks on disputed islands

War hero Simon Weston says actor 'does not know what he is talking about'

Ben Fogle also challenged Penn to a public debate on the Falklands

Left-wing U.S. actor says sending Duke of Cambridge is not necessary

Hollywood star in Uruguay as he continues South American tour



Comes day after he labelled Britain 'colonialist, ludicrous and archaic'



Falklands hero Simon Weston yesterday branded Sean Penn an 'idiot' and a 'fool' over his comments about Britain's ownership of the islands.



Former Welsh Guardsman Weston, 50, hit back at the Hollywood actor's criticism of Prince William's deployment to the Falklands.

The father-of-three, who was terribly injured in an Argentine bomb attack that killed 48 people in 1982, said: 'Sean Penn is living, breathing proof that just because you are famous doesn't mean you know what you are talking about.

War of words: Simon Weston, left, today came out fighting in support Britain in the row involving Sean Penn, right, over the Falklands Making a point: Actor Sean Penn wears a poncho as he shakes hands with Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, during a meeting yesterday

He told The Sun: 'Penn is an idiot. It's bad for people to think you're a fool. You don't need to open your mouth to prove it. By opening his mouth on this, Sean Penn proves he is a fool.'

The attack by Penn was the second time in two days he has criticised the UK's involvement in the islands.

Meanwhile TV adventurer Ben Fogle - who is a close friend of Prince William - also attacked Penn for criticising the Royal's deployment to the Falklands.

Fogle, who - with his wife Marina - was a guest at William and the Duchess of Cambridge's wedding, said he wanted to place Penn in the mouth of crocodiles over his comments.

Brave: Fogle (pictured) has recently dived with crocodiles for a new television series - describing it as the 'scariest, most terrifying thing' he has ever done

Fogle told followers on Twitter: 'I would like to take Sean Penn and place him in the jaws of one of those crocodiles.' He also challenged Penn to a public debate on the Falklands

Fogle has recently dived with crocodiles for a new television series - describing it as the 'scariest, most terrifying thing' he has ever done.

But he told followers on Twitter: 'I would like to take Sean Penn and place him in the jaws of one of those crocodiles.'

He also challenged Penn to a public debate on the Falklands.

WAR OF WORDS - PENN V WESTON

Sean Penn:

'My oh my, aren't people sensitive to the world colonialism, particularly those who implement colonialism

'It's unthinkable that the United Kingdom can make a conscious decision to deploy a prince within the military to the Malvinas, knowing the great emotional sensitivity both of mothers and fathers in the United Kingdom and in Argentina who lost sons and daughters in a war of islands with a population of so few.

'There are many places to deploy the prince. It's not necessary, when the deployment of a prince is generally accompanied by warships, to send them into the seas of such shared blood.'

Simon Weston: 'Sean Penn is living, breathing proof that just because you are famous doesn't mean you know what you are talking about. 'Penn is an idiot. It's bad for people to think you're a fool. You don't need to open your mouth to prove it. By opening his mouth on this, Sean Penn proves he is a fool. 'His views are irrelevant and it only serves to fuel the ire of the Argentinians and get them more pumped up.'

'Let us not forget that 253 airmen, soldiers and sailors lost their lives protecting the Falklands,' wrote Fogle on Twitter.

'We are all entitled to our own political opinion on the Falklands but it's up to the islanders not actors to decide their future.'

Penn, Madonna's ex-husband, was condemned as 'moronic' by Tory MP and former Army officer Patrick Mercer for claiming Britain's continuing hold on the Falklands was 'colonialist, ludicrous and archaic'.



But the left-leaning actor showed he cannot keep his mouth shut over the islands by accusing the UK of 'insensitivity' for posting William to the disputed South Atlantic territory and labelling Britain a colonial dinosaur for the second day running.



The double Oscar winner went on the attack again after a meeting with Uruguayan president Jose Mujica in Montevideo - less than 24 hours after he savaged Britain over the Falklands during his visit to Buenos Aires to see the Argentine president Cristina Kirchner.

Penn, who once called for U.S. president George W. Bush to be impeached over the Iraq War, met both state leaders in his role as Ambassador-at-large for Haiti.



He condemned criticism of his attack on 'colonial' Britain as 'hyperbole' and again insisted on calling the islands by their Spanish name of Las Malvinas.



Grinning smugly as he praised Uruguay as a 'model of development in the world' he added: 'My oh my, aren't people sensitive to the world colonialism, particularly those who implement colonialism.

'It's unthinkable that the United Kingdom can make a conscious decision to deploy a prince within the military to the Malvinas, knowing the great emotional sensitivity both of mothers and fathers in the United Kingdom and in Argentina who lost sons and daughters in a war of islands with a population of so few.

Controversial: Actor Sean Penn meets with Bolivian President Evo Morales at the government palace in La Paz today. He has been criticised by Ben Fogle for his controversial comments on the Falklands issue

Angry: Double Oscar winner Sean Penn (left) went on the attack against Britain for a second day running yesterday after a meeting with Uruguayan president Jose Mujica (right) in Montevideo

Controversial: Actor Sean Penn, pictured here with Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner on Monday, has branded Britain 'colonialist' for its refusal to hand over the Falkland Islands

Annoyed: Sean Penn said that the deployment of Prince William (left) to the Falklands was 'unthinkable'

'There are many places to deploy the prince. It's not necessary, when the deployment of a prince is generally accompanied by warships, to send them into the seas of such shared blood.'

Penn, who has received praise from crackpot Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, insisted he was proud of America's long-standing alliance with the UK but felt he had the responsibility to criticise when criticism was due.



And he said that while he understood and respected the wish of people living in the Falklands Islands to remain British, they should also understand the need for Argentina and Britain to negotiate the sharing of the islands' natural resources.

The international row which has erupted since Penn made his outspoken views has become a national talking point.



Such is the anger Penn raised with his opinions that as of Thursday afternoon, MailOnline had received close to 5,000 comments on the story - a record number for our site.



Graffiti: A mural in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires commemorates its soldiers who fell in the Falklands Conflict

Protest: Stencilled graffiti across Buenos Aires saying 'They are not British, they are Argentine' (left) and 'English out of the Malvinas, we will return!' (right)



Demonstration: A Buenos Aires street daubed in pro-Argentine graffiti, with a sign that says: 'The Malvinas were, are and will be Argentine'

Inspection: Actor Sean Penn (right) alongside Argentina's Social Developer Minister Alicia Kirchner (left) during a visit to a factory in Berazategui, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires on Monday

Disputed: Argentina calls the Falkland Islands (pictured) Las Malvinas and claims they were 'stolen' by Britain 180 years ago

In an ugly attack on the press before ending his address to newsmen after his meeting with Uruguay's president, he added: 'Good journalism saves the world. Bad journalism destroys it so to all of you good journalists in the room I thank you. And the rest I will leave you to your own reflections.'



ARGENTINIAN POLICE CLASH WITH FALKLANDS WAR VETERANS Argentine police clashed with a group of Falklands War veterans in Buenos Aires yesterday, demanding inclusion in a pension plan for war vets. The protesting veterans, who were deployed in the 1982 Falklands War when Argentina invaded the British-ruled South Atlantic islands, are disqualified from a Falklands war veterans package because they never actually deployed on the islands. The demonstrators were blocking a major downtown thoroughfare when riot police, led by a massive water cannon truck, moved in on them to break up the demonstration. The ex-soldiers, who began their protest on Monday night, resisted the police and hurled rocks, sticks and other projectiles. The police responded with batons and riot shields. The police finally fired tear gas and advanced against the demonstrators chasing them through the streets and detaining several. The protesting veterans say they want the government to recognize them as 'continental combatants' and afford them a 'minimal pension'.

Penn, who had no previous knowledge or connection with the Falklands, later left by a side door of the skyscraper where he had met Jose Mucija, disappointing fans who had travelled miles to see him.

His comments have incensed Falkland veterans and islanders ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Falklands conflict.

Patrick Mercer added: 'What on earth has this got to do with Sean Penn? He’s neither British nor Argentine and seems to know nothing about the situation judging by this moronic comment.

‘A good number of his movies have been turkeys, so I suppose we shouldn’t expect much better coming out of his mouth.’

Penn waded into the row over the disputed territory’s future after he met President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in Buenos Aires on Monday, by insisting he was ‘firmly’ on the side of the South Americans.

Tensions between the UK and Argentina have been running higher than usual after Prince William’s deployment to the islands as a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot. Penn’s remarks will further inflame relations as the anniversary of the start of the Falklands War approaches on April 2.

A total of 255 British soldiers were killed retaking the islands after an Argentinian military junta invaded the ‘Malvinas’, as the Falklands are known in Spanish, in 1982, while 649 Argentine troops died.

Tory MP Andrew Rosindell, secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Falkland Islands, attacked the actor’s comments as ‘nonsense’.

He said: ‘He shows complete ignorance of the issue if he comes out with nonsensical statements like that. In the 21st century people have a democratic right to their own future.



A HOLLYWOOD REBEL WITH EVERY LEFT-WING CAUSE

As the acknowledged king of Hollywood’s liberals, there is scarcely a single fashionable Left-wing cause Sean Penn has not championed in recent years. Vehemently anti-Republican and achingly trendy, he counts Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s hardline president Hugo Chávez among his friends.

He has also made anti-American propaganda visits to Iran and post-war Iraq.

Penn has met Chávez at least twice and defended the Left-wing leader, arguing that anyone calling him a 'dictator' should face jail. He has also said: 'Chávez may not be a good man. But he may well be a great one.'

Penn even once took out a £40,000 full-page newspaper advertisement to attack President George W Bush for his ‘simplistic and inflammatory view of good and evil’.

Friends: Sean Penn (right) who has been labelled a 'communist' for his friendship with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez (left) who he met in 2008 Later he would call for Bush and former vice president Dick Cheney to be jailed for 'deceiving the American people into a war (Iraq) that was murdering young men and women'.

Last October Penn visited ‘inspirational’ post-Gaddafi Libya.

The 51-year-old actor, who was married to Madonna from 1985 to 1989 and has two children from his second marriage to Robin Wright which has also now ended, was reported to have flashed a V for Victory sign as he arrived in Tripoli fresh from visiting Egypt.

Amid even Tinseltown’s numerous famous bleeding hearts then, Penn stands out.

But despite his tough political posturing the Oscar-winning star of Milk and Mystic River is also famously sensitive to criticism.

When he was lampooned as a naive egotist in the 2004 satirical puppet movie Team America: World Police, he complained bitterly.

In the film, written by South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, a puppet of Penn made outlandish statements about how happy Iraqis were before the war.

But while Alec Baldwin, George Clooney and Matt Damon all saw the funny side to the film, in which they too were parodied, Penn sent Parker and Stone an angry letter inviting them to tour Iraq with him and signing it off with '**** you'.

Parker explained: 'In the movie we were making fun of him for always saying "I’ve been to Iraq, you don’t know what you’re talking about, I’ve been there", and then he writes in the letter "I’ve been to Iraq...".'

More recently, Penn set up a charity in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake in the country. It led to him being named 'ambassador-at-large' by President Michel Martelly, which is why the actor was visiting Buenos Aires. He has also championed causes such as gay-rights and America's poor, as well as supporting countries most Americans would consider to be enemies. On screen he won an Oscar for his portrayal of homosexual politician Harvey Milk and appeared in a promotional advert for the Occupy movement. In 2005 he helped rescue people in New Orleans, Louisiana, who had been injured by Hurricane Katrina. But some thought it was merely a PR stunt. The Mystic River star has also visited Iran, Iraq, and Cuba - and most recently has been seen in Libya (following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime) and Egypt (after Hosni Mubarak was ousted).





'It is Argentina that is trying to impose its wishes on the people of the Falklands. As an American he should remember that freedom is precious, and it is something his countrymen have defended around the globe.

FALKLANDS OIL 'WORTH £111BN'

Drilling within the 200 mile territory surrounding the Falklands could yieldb tax windfalls of £111bn from oil and gas exploration, a major report claimed today.

Several companies have been prospecting for oil within the exclusion zone set up during the 1980s Falklands War.

UK-listed companies are involved in exploring four major prospects this year, with the biggest, Loligo, potentially holding more than 4.7bn barrels of oil.

The riches available are put in perspective when it is considered that Catcher, the biggest discovery in the North Sea, is thought to hold only around 300m barrels.

According to a new report by oil and gas analysts Edison Investment Research, if all four prospects were drilled the potential tax funds would net close to $180bn.

Ian McLelland, who co-wrote the report, said: 'With current tax and fishing incomes in the region of $40m , the islands look set to be transformed by the oil industry.'

'The proverbial spanner in the works that remains is the ongoing political dispute between Britain and Argentina regarding sovereignty of the Falklands.'

‘He must understand that the UK is equally entitled to defend the freedom of the people of the Falklands, even if they are 8,000 miles away.’

Dick Sawle, a member of the Falklands Legislative Assembly, said: ‘I don’t know Sean Penn’s films or what he looks like so I know as much about him as he does about the islands. His remarks are ridiculous.’

Even comedian Jim Davidson weighed in. Davidson, patron of the Falkland Veterans Foundation, said: ‘The fact of the matter is Argentina broke all the laws of the UN and attacked the Falkland Islands. What’s next? Do we expect the French to land on the Channel Islands and do nothing about it?



‘I think the world today is not going to tolerate any kind of ludicrous and archaic commitment to colonialist ideology.’ Britain has said repeatedly that those living on the Falklands – which have been in British hands since 1833 – have the right to decide under which country they want to be governed.

The 3,000-strong population has declared its wish to remain under British rule. Argentina has made a formal complaint to the UN over the UK’s supposed ‘militarisation’ of the South Atlantic, based on the Type 45 destroyer Dauntless being ordered to the region, as well as Prince William’s deployment in his RAF role.

The MoD says the deployments are ‘routine’. The Royal Navy is also sending a nuclear-powered submarine to patrol the islands. In a fresh development, it was announced yesterday that all British-flagged ships will be boycotted by Argentina’s transport workers’ union.

'Should we give Gibraltar back to Spain because Spain is nearer or do you think the Gibraltarians have a say?’

Penn, who called on Britain to join UN-sponsored talks over the islands, said: ‘I hope that diplomats can establish true dialogue between the UK and Argentina in order to solve the conflict as the world today cannot tolerate ridiculous demonstrations of colonialism.

Telex from Falklands reporting Argentine surrender set to fetch up to £3,000 at auction



A copy of the original telex announcing to the British government that Argentina had surrendered in the Falklands War is to go under the hammer.

Sent by the commander of the British land forces, Major-General Jeremy Moore, it states that the junta’s forces have laid down their arms and the Falkland Islands are 'once more under the government desired by their inhabitants”.



The document is expected to sell for between £2,000 and £3,000 when it is auctioned by Bonhams on April 3, a day after the 30th anniversary of the start of the war.

The telex, sent by Major-General Jeremy Moore, Commander of British land forces in the Falklands, which is to be sold at Bonhams in April

It reads: 'In Port Stanley at 9 o’clock pm Falkland Islands Time tonight 14th June 1982, Major General Menendes (sic) surrendered to me all the Argentine Forces in East and West Falkland, together with all their impedimenta.



'Arrangements are in hand to assemble the men for return to Argentina, to gather in their arms and equipment, and to mark and make safe their munitions.



'The Falkland Islands are once more under the government desired by their inhabitants. God Save the Queen. Signed JJ Moore.”



The message was sent via special forces to the Government Communications Headquarters on June 14 1982 - six days before the hostilities officially ceased.



It came to the auctioneer from what was described as a naval-related source.

Bonhams chairman Robert Brooks said: 'This remarkable document encapsulates perfectly the very moment of total capitulation by Argentina’s 12,000-strong occupying forces in the Falklands.

'It is a rare find of great historical importance and will excite considerable interest from around the world.'