THIS WAR (ON TERROR) …

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Sting has been an ardent activist for many causes, but he’s not getting involved in the U.S. presidential election.
He and fellow singer Annie Lennox said they admired the efforts of two dozen musicians on a tour aimed at ousting President Bush, but couldn’t join them because they are British citizens. “It wouldn’t be our place to do that, we’re guests in this country and we don’t have a vote,” Sting said in a recent phone interview. “Some of my friends are on that tour and I think it’s laudable what they’re doing.” The “Vote for Change” tour features Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Pearl Jam, R.E.M. and other artists who will play 34 shows in October in nine states that are hotly-contested in the presidential election.
Proceeds from the tour will go to liberal political action group America Coming Together.
Sting, who was in Atlanta to raise money for his Rainforest Foundation, said he couldn’t understand why the United States and Great Britain joined forces to invade Iraq. “They could’ve used the resources and the energy to really try and get who was responsible for 9/11,” Sting said. “It wasn’t Saddam Hussein, it’s a bunch of long-hairs who are probably in Pakistan right now.” “Obviously I was very glad to see the back of Saddam Hussein,” Lennox added in the same interview. “But the country is a terrible mess now and I don’t see how they’re going to be able to extricate themselves from it without tremendous cost of money and life.”
Sting sold more than 95 million records with The Police and as a solo artist, while Lennox hit it big with ’80s rock duo Eurythmics before going on her own. They met in the late 70s at a BBC recording session and now share the bill on the “Sacred Love” tour. Lennox performs songs from her 2003 solo work, “Bare,” a deeply emotional album about the breakup of her marriage. “I’m always touching on the edge of emotional abyss,” she said. “That seems to be my life and I seem to write about it.” The tour is named after Sting’s latest album, “Sacred Love,” which received lukewarm reviews last year. “That’s fine, people can be lukewarm or red-hot or cold, that’s not why I make records,” he said. “I make the best record that I possibly can in the time given with my limited talent.”
Reuters/VNU