Bono backs Bush

Bono has come out strongly in support of the conduct, by the United States, of the war in Afghanistan. "I don't think historically, the way this campaign has been waged against terror, will be seen as anything other than a success, in terms of the least loss of human life and a certain measuredness, which most of the world were not expecting from the United States," he told Hot Press, in an exclusive interview for the Hot Press Annual 2002.

Asked was this not a shift from where U2 had stood in the past on issues like this, the U2 frontman was unapologetic.

"Having bitten the arse of American policy in the first ten years of my life in U2, I think you have to give them credit where it is due," he added.

"There's a lazy-mindedness about people sitting on the fence in this. It is actually not acceptable, especially people living across the road from Sellafield.

"I think there is a certain emergency aspect to going after these people."

Ina wide-ranging and in-depth interview, Bono discusses the aftermath of September 11th. in detail, discussing the role of organised religion in the explosive tensions in the Middle East, and revealing his hopes for the Drop The Debt campaign in 2002. He also talks extensively about the death of his father - "Cancer is a cruel and slow process that finally takes away all dignity," he says; about the birth during 2001 of his fourth child, John; about his meeting with Julian Lennon and what he learned about fatherhood from him; about the highs and lows of the year that has just passed, including his personal choices of albums, books and movies; and about the enduring friendship that has propelled U2 to their position of pre-eminence in rock'n'roll - the which sustains them at the pinnacle.