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Rediff.com  » Movies » Richard Gere backs George Bush

Richard Gere backs George Bush

By rediff Entertainment Bureau
Last updated on: February 27, 2006 18:58 IST
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It is not often that a Hollywood star praises George W Bush.

But Richard Gere is all praise for the American President on the issue of helping India combat HIV-AIDS.

`There's not been a President who has taken this subject (fighting AIDS) more seriously than our current President,' Gere, a committed AIDS activist, told ABC News. `I don't agree with him (Bush) on very many things, but I certainly can praise him on this.'

Gere added that Bush, who is `seemingly obsessed with terrorism, clearly obsessed with it. (Is) talking about HIV-AIDS in the same breath, in the same paragraph. (It is) extremely important.'

The Pretty Woman star said India is a country `I care about deeply, and I've been spending much of my adult life there.'

He said Bush's joining hands with India on combating the killer virus was extremely important to prevent the second-largest population in the world becoming like Africa, which is `essentially lost as a productive community because no one cared about it (the AIDS problem there).'

`If this crisis hits them (Indians) to the degree it's expected to, we've lost Asia. Americans with the almost unlimited funds we have to do good in the world for ourselves and others -- to not do this, it's a waste of the promise of who we are as Americans,' added the star, who felt it was his duty to use his celebrity status as a spokesperson of such a noble cause.

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