Sean Penn breaks his silence ... sort of

Sean Penn broke his silence following his controversial trip to Iraq with an interview last night on CNN's ''Larry King Show'' by saying he went to Baghdad seeking information, but doesn't feel he is in a position to share what he learned with the American people.

Sean Penn on CNN

Asked by King what the purpose of his trip to Iraq was, the actor-director said: ''The purpose was information.''

Insisting in a somewhat rambling interview that he doesn't think he ''hurt this country's position,'' Penn accused the Bush administration of trying to ''herd us into this position. We as citizens have to take stock of our own conscience on these issues.''

Penn boasted of spending nearly 90 minutes with top Iraqi official Tariq Aziz, but said he didn't feel comfortable relating what was said.

''I don't believe that, despite some compelling arguments ... that it is legitimate for someone in my position to quote him and to be a messenger of anything to do with that message,'' said the actor.

The actor made clear he is no fan of Saddam Hussein.

''I think there's probably two legitimate places for Saddam Hussein: it's either Bellevue or a meat grinder,'' he said. ''This man's a horror and a criminal, there's no question about it.''

Penn said repeatedly he is not a pacifist, but said he opposed a U.S. attack on Iraq without proof the country has weapons of mass destruction and plans to use them against America. Asked what kind of proof would persuade him to change his mind, he said: ''What is it they have? How much of it do they have? What is the immediate threat of it? What are the ramifications of what we do about it? For example, the same – those same enemies of the state of Iraq today who, on the other hand, are Arab brothers. My friend – you know, the enemy of the enemy and that whole notion. Who is going to give terrorists nuclear capability as a result of us going into Iraq in a certain way? Who is going to? All of these things have to be considered. The best way that, for my own opinion, I think, you know, given what are the facts of – the only way that I'll answer it is to say that, you know, again, I do not stand here as a pacifist. I would aspire to be a pacifist. I'm not. I doubt I ever will be.''

Penn said he undertook the fact-finding trip out of an ''increasing feeling of shame on my own part in not participating in what, for me, was not necessarily so much a political but a – to the degree that humanitarianism and civic responsibility are the same thing.''

He said he believes we are living in what Norman Mailer called ''the first century that – because of technology and the conflicts in the world ... the Earth survives without us. And I have children who are going to face that century and live in that century.''

Penn, who has been known to slug it out with paparazzi and even his former flame Madonna, said the Bush administration ''inadvertently teaching a master class in the manifestation of rage into hatred.''

Have we seen the end of Penn's unofficial diplomatic career? Not necessarily, he says. Asked if he would go to North Korea, where another dictator is threatening war agains the U.S., Penn didn't rule it out.

''If I felt there was a productive reason to go, I think, is one answer to it,'' he said. ''Am I curious to go to North Korea? Yes.''