Angelina Jolie & Maddox back in LA after trip to Iraq

Angelina Jolie and her oldest child Maddox, 7, were seen at LAX airport on Friday after Angelina’s brief trip to Iraq in her role as ambassador for the UNHCR. Jolie and Maddox left through the back of the terminal, avoiding the huge throng of paparazzi at the front but inevitably being photographed and videotaped as they headed to a waiting SUV. They were with a bodyguard and an assistant.

Along with visiting refugees displaced by the war, Jolie also made a visit to US troops at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, as Kaiser guessed she would. The 34 year-old actress happily posed with US servicemen and was seen getting a hug from Pfc. Bryan Ward from Chicago. (Angelina has often shown her support for the troops and in June she made a low-key visit to wounded soldiers at Walter Reed hospital in Washington, DC.)

During her trip, Jolie told an Iraqi woman living in a refugee camp outside Baghdad that she hoped her circumstances would improve. “I want to come back and find you in a better place and in a different situation. We hope that UNHCR and the government will support you in getting a piece of land. You need help not because you are poor, but because you are the future of Iraq.” Jolie has been involved with the UNHCR for nearly eight years.