GEORGE CLOONEY - CLOONEY DENIES BUSH ATTACK IN NEW FILM

Hollywood star GEORGE CLOONEY has rubbished claims his latest movie is a veiled attack on US President GEORGE BUSH - but refuses to apologise for the film's politically sensitive themes.

SYRIANA - a political thriller focusing on the oil industry - has sparked controversy for its sympathetic portrayal of two Pakistani boys who become suicide bombers, but Clooney is adamant their story must be told.

And he is disgusted by claims the film, in which he plays a CIA agent, singles out George Bush for criticism, arguing it is an attack on "the system" rather than a particular person.

He says, "There are going to be people who will be very angry at the idea that we took a couple of suicide bombers and showed how they could be formed, instead of just categorising them as evil.

"I'm an old-time liberal and I don't apologise for it. With Syriana we're going to get beaten up politically in some places. Fair enough, because we've taken a stand.

"It is not an attack on the Bush administration but it is an attack on the system that has been in place for 60 or 70 years - oil always being at the centre of it"