U2 and the holy war ...

This is what I mean, really. Less hinting, more obvious. Not saying U@'s Christian thing is *new*, folks. I'm just amazed they're weighing in so explicitly on the crisis.

"All your daughters of Zion
All your Abraham sons"

I don't think these take a side. Both Muslims and Jews descend from Abraham, and "Zion" is just the location. If anything, it's a clear example of Bono at his sloppiest and laziest as a lyricist.

That's Christian haughtiness at its finest. It's almost mocking, like a "my God is the one true God" taunt.

Yes, btw, "Please" is a much better song. I'm not saying any of the new tunes are necessarily better than other u2 songs ... just more direct.

erm...

wait, you mean people are actually listening to the new u2 album?

The Christian side is not the Palestinian side. Christians are not behind the formation of a Palestinian state, cuz they need the jews to all die in a wall of flames so Jesus can take them to heaven with a magic flying horse or something. Seriously.

I think Bono's commercial ambitions and idealism are wrapped into the same unconflicted impulses: In U2's way of thinking, they don't have cultural leverage without being popular.

More to the point, Bono needs U.S. leadership to be on board for the causes he champions, such as forgiving third world debt. In this arena, at least, he's been very effective.

Oh yeah? and which rich countries have forgiven third world debt because of Bono?

http://www.bonothepuppet.com/

Bono reportedly gained the sympathetic ear of the President of the United States. From the Scotsman, September 25, 2004:

In the US, Bono's devout Christianity endeared him to even the most tight -fisted Republican senators. Jesse Helms, the Republican senator and chairman of the Senate committee on foreign affairs, a notoriously conservative and gruff man, shed tears during his meeting with the singer as they discussed scripture and their children. Mr Helms became a powerful ally.

George Bush, who has pledged dollars 5 billion to fight world poverty, explained this during a meeting with the singer: "I appreciate your heart and to tell you what an influence you have had, Dick Cheney walked into the Oval Office and he said: 'Jesse Helms wants us to listen to Bono's ideas'."

Around the same time, Bush's Treasury Department began pushing for full debt forgiveness for the world's 30 poorest countries. From the Wall Street Journal on September 14, 2002 (via the Jubilee USA web site): "U.S. to push debt relief for Iraq, poor nations"

http://www.jubileeusa.org/jubilee.cgi?path=/press_room&page=wsj091404.html

O'Neill was fired two years ago, well before the Treasury Department's public policy shift.

Here's Treasury Secretary John Snow quoted by AP in September: "Grants and debt relief must be significantly increased - we are considering more options to do so, including those that would provide up to 100 percent debt relief and grants."

The US has not forgiven third world debt.

The U.S. cancelled Ethiopia's debt last month.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200501010017.html

And Iraq's debt shortly before that, albeit in exchange for the economic equivalent of that country's soul. http://www.jubileeiraq.org/blog/

And Pakistan's debt before that. I'm sure there are other examples...

The proposal for debt cancellation for the world's poorest countries will probably be considered, along with a general tsunami-related debt freeze, when the G7 finance ministers meet Feb. 4-5 in London.

The stuff you cite is pretty much just PR cover for the Bushies and ego-stroking blather for U2.

Maybe. Maybe not. Here's the Guardian on September 26, 2004:

According to Oxfam's Adrian Lovett, who helped form Jubilee 2000, the Bono-driven debt relief campaign that preceded Data (Debt Aids Trade Africa), "the decisive moment on debt was June 1999 at the G8 Summit in Cologne where an extra £50 billion was promised. It wasn't all down to Bono, of course, but it would never have happened without him."

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1312872,00.html

You'd probably say Jubilee 2000 owes Bono a favor, but there are worse ways to buy good PR in this world...

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=World%20Bank