Last week, Angelina Jolie made a three-day trip to the Middle East, and she brought her son Maddox with her. At first, people were just reporting that Angelina was taking Maddox to Jordan, where they’d be staying at Angie’s BFF Queen Noor’s palace. But alas, Angie made a day-long trip to Iraq, where she visited some refugee camps, acting on behalf of her role as goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commission on Refugees. After the UNHCR work, Angelina went to Camp Liberty as part of a USO visit, her third joint UNHCR/USO trip to Iraq.

What was unknown at the time was whether Maddox joined his mom on every part of the trip. I thought at the time that it was probably pretty likely. Maddox turns 8 years old next week, and I think he’s old enough to understand what a refugee camp is all about, and to appreciate his mother’s work to a certain extent. Beyond the refugee camps, Maddox seems to have a well-documented love of soldiers and the military, and I could see him getting excited about going to Camp Liberty. Plus, Maddox seems like a pretty hardcore little dude, and from what I remember about his early (pre-Brad Pitt) childhood, he went with his mom everywhere, so it probably wasn’t his first time in a camp or around soldiers.

In Touch is reporting that Maddox did indeed go with Angelina to Iraq, and that Brad Pitt is really pissed about it. According to “an associate” close to the family, Brad had a massive hissy fit about Angelina taking Maddox to a “dangerous war zone”, and in their screaming fight, Brad told Angie she was “irresponsible”. But here’s the kicker – Angelina yelled right back (that’s my girl), saying Brad’s “ignorance about how dangerous Iraq is underlines why she should take trips there with Maddox – so he can know better.” Yeah, I’m with Angelina on this one:

It was intended as an early eighth birthday present for their son Maddox. But Angelina Jolie’s decision to take the little boy to what Brad Pitt saw a dangerous war zone brought on one of the troubled couple’s biggest fights yet.

According to a close associate, Brad was livid after Angelina went against his wishes, taking Maddox to Iraqi refugee camps on July 23.

“He told her that it’s no place for a child Maddox’s age,” the associate explains. “But she insisted it wasn’t dangerous and took him anyway.”

After Maddox and Angelina returned from their three-day trip to [Iraq and Jordan], Brad lashed out at Angelina. “He called her irresponsible,” explains the associate. “He had told her taking Maddox to Iraq was ridiculously dangerous, but she disrespected his wishes and went anyway.”

Instead of talking things through… Angelina fired back at Brad. “She said Brad’s ignorance about how dangerous Iraq is underlines why she should take trips there with Maddox – so he can know better.”

The fight escalated until they were “both talking and screaming at the same time,” the associate says, adding that while “Angie finally backed down,” the pair slept in separate bedrooms that night and have barely spoken since.

A friend says: “They’re keeping things civil for the sake of the kids, but their relationship has pretty much dissolved into nothing more than co-parenting.”

But now it appears Brad and Angelina can’t even agree on how to raise their children. “They know they can’t go on much longer like this – this is the first time they’ve seriously come to blows over how to raise their kids,” says the associate. “Before they were always a team, but they’re worlds apart now.”

[From In Touch Weekly, print edition, August 10 2009]

Blah, blah, they’re splitting up, blah, Brad throws a temper tantrum, blah. In Touch also a few more added criticisms/factoids: Angelina has been “turning to” Holly Goline, her former assistant because she needs friends. Also, Brad has “made it clear he’s past caring and emotionally he has moved on from Angie.” Brad is looking forward to the Inglourious Basterds press tour, and is planning on being “on the road for awhile.” Fun info: Brad might appear on Letterman to promote Inglourious Basterds. Meanwhile, Angelina has no plans to join Brad for any part of the press tour, yet she’s still very jealous of “gorgeous, intelligent” Diane Kruger (CB says Diane seems smug, which I’ll buy, plus Diane is with Joshua Jackson, who is a total cutie). The Jolie-Pitt household is “unhappy”. Et cetera. You get the point. Question – if Brad and Angelina are fighting so much and for such a long period of time, why haven’t they broken up yet? They fight like cats, but they make up like dogs? (Hint: doggy style)

In one last piece of Brangelina info, Radar is reporting that Brad made a “pit” stop in the south of France on his way home from Berlin. They say that Brad went to the Chateau Miraval “to inspect” the millions of dollars of renovation work he’s having done to the lease-to-own property. The renovations are nearly “half-way” through, and they include the installation of “fencing and walls worthy of Fort Knox”. Brad is also “updating some of the 35-room main home’s interior, and he’s having custom-made furniture built. Brad personally designed the furniture, and it will come with a final price tag of nearly $500,000. Brad and Angelina are hoping all the work is done by the end of the year. They’ll eventually make the Chateau their primary home.” What would Brad do with himself if he didn’t have all of these million-dollar renovation projects going on all over the world?