Appearing on newsman Piers Morgan’s new CNN TV show on Friday (21Jan11), the movie star, who has become a leading celebrity advocate for Sudanese refugees desperate for an end to decades of civil war, addressed Americans who feel he should concentrate his activism on homegrown issues in the U.S.
He said, “Charity should begin at home and there’s a tremendous amount of work being done… We haven’t really dealt with (Hurricane) Katrina, we haven’t dealt with the (Gulf) oil spill… We have a lot of work to do.
“But the Sudan is an issue we’ve been involved with for many many years; we spend over a billion dollars a year there now, basically in triage.
“Rather than doing that, why don’t we spend no money and just our diplomatic will… to be able to avoid those situations before it happens.
“We have great interests in both versions, the north and the south of Sudan succeeding. Remember, the northern part of Sudan is where (terrorist leader) Osama Bin Laden hid out for 12 years… We have great interest in there being success here.”
