Yup. I thought I was the only person who remembered him saying that. And maybe there aren't many folks besides you and me who do, since I've seen so many predictions in various threads of release dates that are years into the future.
Yeah, as critical as I am of U2, it's because I want it to be the best and be proud of the band the way I used to. I'm very compulsive about going to the source. I think it was a radio interview or something, right? He also said the outrage over being shut down by the police for the "Where the Streets Have No Name" video was all pretense and that was U2's plan all along, I think. He had to write a letter to the police chief's daughter explaining that everything was fine because she was no longer talking to her father. I was quite shocked.
On the whole reissue thing, Robert Smith of The Cure planned to rerelease his entire catalogue with bonus stuff in a year or something. That was back in 2002! On average he rereleases 3 albums every 2-3 years:
Late 2004: Three Imaginary Boys
Spring 2005: Seventeen Seconds; Faith; Pornography
Summer 2006: The Top; Head on the Door; Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
Next year we expect Disintegration; Wish; and Mixed Up
Actually that's not too bad a release schedule, since we actually get rare stuff and it's easier to appreciate. However, we don't get bonus DVDs since The Cure aren't as marketable. However, when they do come out, the DVDs are much more reasonably priced. Robert even refused to take any royalties to reduce the price of the last DVD.