Thankfully some in the press are taking Bono's actions seriously, and realize that this is more than just a rock star working for his own glory:
(this was published in the Boston Globe last week, sorry if it's already been posted in here)
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/nation/2948009.htm
Foreign aid turnaround might be thanks to Bono
BY JOHN DONNELLY
Boston Globe
WASHINGTON ? The turning point in the debate over U.S. foreign aid may have come when rock star Bono and Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina began quoting Scripture to each other.
From that private meeting last year, Helms aides say, the conservative and deeply religious senator began questioning why the United States wasn't doing much more to fight AIDS in Africa.
The climate in Washington to dramatically increase foreign assistance to poor countries is better than it has been in years. President Bush last week pledged a 50 percent increase in aid over four years. Helms, inspired by his tete-a-tete with Bono, lead singer of the band U2, has also called for an additional $500 million ? most of it aimed at stopping the transmission of AIDS from mother to child. And Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill has said the United Nations' goal to improve the plight of the poor is far too modest.
There's a catch, though: U.S. officials want proof that the money works.
"What you want to do is put the aid in areas where it's going to work," said John Taylor, Treasury's undersecretary for international affairs. "You need to measure the output of aid."
For many aid proponents, that request is not unreasonable.
"I don't worry about that at all," said David Nabarro, executive director at the World Health Organization's office of the director-general. "It's a responsible line to be taking."
The leaders of the United Nations and the World Bank have pushed the United States in recent years to substantially increase foreign assistance from its current 0.1 percent of gross domestic product, or $11 billion. The Bush proposal for $5 billion in additional funding by 2006, which needs approval of Congress, would still leave the U.S. government lagging far behind the percentage of donations from other wealthy countries. European Union nations recently agreed to donate an average of 0.39 percent of their GDP by 2006.
But some aid advocates, such as Harvard's Jeffrey Sachs, think that the Bush administration's plan and Helms' new statements signal the beginning of a substantial ramp-up in foreign assistance.
"This is a big breakthrough," Sachs said. "With the AIDS pandemic completely running out of control, with the increasing instability in dozens of countries around the world, I think that September 11th was the decisive turning point."
Sachs said the administration's proposal "is really a change in direction. It's not an added budget number here and there. I think it's bigger than even the government appreciates. ? There are some remarkable things to be done, and there's the pull of the world wanting U.S. leadership ? not just U.S. money ? but U.S. leadership in this."
When Helms and Bono met, the rock star chose passages from the Bible about Jesus urging followers to help the unfortunate, which Helms said Bono interpreted to include AIDS victims. Later, that view was endorsed by Franklin Graham, head of the Christian charity Samaritan's Purse and son of evangelist Billy Graham, whom Bono later visited.
"Senator Helms said ? that with Bono you can see the halo around his head," said Helms spokesman Lester Munson. "He's not a fan of his rock 'n' roll stuff, but he's a fan of Bono as a man."
The turnabout ? notable when compared with the Clinton administration's less ambitious foreign aid packages, some of which were opposed by Helms ? was accelerated by the Bush administration's desire to go to last week's U.N. conference in Monterrey, Mexico, with something to offer developing nations. The push came from National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and O'Neill, administration officials said.
O'Neill has been sharply critical of the effectiveness of foreign aid in the past, saying developing countries had received "trillions of dollars over the years with precious little to show for it." But O'Neill also said aid has the possibility of restarting economies and improving the lives of the world's have-nots. He has challenged charities and the World Bank to find improved ways of measuring success or failure.
Helms wants that as well, but he is also bothered by his conscience.
"In the end our conscience is answerable to God," Helms wrote in a column published in the Washington Post on Sunday. "Perhaps, in my 81st year, I am too mindful of soon meeting Him, but I know that, like the Samaritan traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, we cannot turn away when we see our fellow man in need."
