Bono speaks on CNN's Larry King Show about the African AIDS crisis

U2’s Bono outlined details of his drive to raise awareness of the African AIDS crisis in the US heartlands when he appeared on CNN’s Larry King Show on December 1st, World AIDS Day.

The Heart Of America "speak and listen" tour, on which the singer is being accompanied by actress Ashley Judd, kicked off three days later in Lincoln, Nebraska. The tour was also scheduled to take in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Omaha, Indianapolis, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee, addressing what Bono called, "the biggest pandemic facing the human race since the bubonic plague took a third of Europe in the Middle Ages," a pandemic that claims two and a half million lives a year.

"I want to know what Americans think about what’s happening in the rest of the world," he explained. "It’s not a musical thing, though we’re taking with us an African troupe, a singing and drama group. They’re extraordinary. They’re from Ghana. They’re called the Gateway Ambassadors. And they’re going to come along just to make sure it doesn’t get too boring."

Asked by King why he continually involves himself in humanitarian issues, Bono cited the trip he and his wife Ali took to Ethiopia in 1985 after Bob Geldof’s Band Aid/Live Aid extravaganzas as a major turning point.

"My life changed really there," he said, "and I saw things that you shouldn’t ever see in your life. We stayed north of Ethiopia. We slept in a tent. I used to get up in the mornings. And as the mist would lift, you know, over the hills, you would see tens of thousands of people who had been walking all night to get food. They were coming to this camp. And sometimes, they would leave children there and walk away from them. And we would get to the children, and those children would be dead.

"And sometimes even worse things would happen, like a man came to me with his beautiful, beautiful boy, and said, ‘Please, here is my child, I can’t look after him. Will you take my child? Because I know my child will live in your hands and not in mine.’ And I couldn’t take the child. Of course, I couldn’t take the child.

"But I’m still taking the child now, you know," he continued, "all of these experiences are tattooed on you. And you know, we’re coming home on the plane, and we say, we’ll never forget this. We will never forget what we have seen, the squandering of human life for stupid reasons – you know, money. Money is not a good enough reason to die. Two-and-a-half million Africans are going to die next year for the stupidest of reasons, because it’s difficult to get the AIDS drugs to them. Well, it’s not difficult to get fizzy drinks to the furthest reaches of Africa. We can get cold, fizzy drinks. Surely, we can get the drugs. This is America. We can do anything here. You’ve got a guy on the moon. You know what I mean?"

Later in the interview, King quizzed the singer, the child of an interdenominational marriage, about his religious background.

"Religion often reduces the size of God," he said. "I think God is very angry at the moment, and I think it’s shocking what is going on in the world. And I think it is an extraordinary moment. Right now, I can tell you this. Our age will be remembered. This moment in time will be remembered for three things: the war against terror, sure; the Internet, probably; and how we let an entire continent, Africa, burst into flames and stood around with water in cans. This is not acceptable. It is not acceptable to let people die because they can’t get the drugs that you and I take for granted. That means you have to ask very hard questions of ourselves if we’re doing that."

Bono also spoke about his trip to Africa in the company of US Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill.

"Paul O’ Neill was also trying to open my eyes, too, to stuff: the past, you know, the reasons why Americans are in the list of 22 of the richest countries of the world, (and) the United States is at the bottom of the pile as a percentage of national income for what it gives to the poorest people on earth. I don’t know if you know that. But the reason is not because Americans are not generous. It’s not because Americans would not come to the aid of these people. It’s because over the years, a lot of this money was wasted, not necessarily by the Africans, but was spent on, you know, on propping up dictators, crack despots like Mobutu, who put money in their Swiss bank accounts.

"And eventually, people just said to their politicians, ‘Stop wasting our money.’ (Foreign aid) became a bad word, and we have to stop using that word. We should start talking about it as an investment now. Investment in the future. Help is a good word. And I know if Americans understand that their money is going to be spent well, they are ready to step up to the plate."

Asked by King how he deals emotionally with being in the presence of a dying child, Bono said, "It’s a very hard thing to get your hand around. I remember having a child in my hand that was about 2-and-a-half inches long, an African child. It was white as snow, and they said they thought they could keep the child alive, believe it or not. And I kept in touch even when I came home, and actually that child is walking around healthy now. It’s an amazing thing what medicines can do. That’s the good news on this AIDS emergency."

"Now, we can get the medicines to the people. And right now, let’s face it, there is a crisis about the way the United States is perceived in the rest of the world - and these are advertisements, these drugs, for the United States’ creativity, and innovations. These pharmaceuticals are red, white and blue, and if you get them into towns and villages in Africa, which is 40 percent Muslim, and you’re saving lives of sisters, brothers, wives, husbands, they will run these extremists out of town.

"When I tell people that the war against terror is bound up with the war against poverty, they look at me and say, ‘What do you mean?’ And I say, ‘I didn’t say that; Colin Powell said that.’ And military men, oddly enough, are the ones that realize that this is a war that cannot be won just by military means alone.

"So, the work that I am talking to you about on World AIDS Day - and trying to get a historic initiative led by the United States with a president, who I believe has a feel for this, and a Congress that has a bipartisan interest in this, that is part of this discussion," he concluded. "I really want to convince Americans of that. This is important. The way the world sees the United States is important. America is not just a country; it’s an idea. You have to defend the idea as well as the country, and that idea is being attacked. I’m sure that history is on our side in this argument."