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Former U.S. vice President Al Gore lashed out at Bush new policy of pre-emptive strikes and a possible war with Iraq
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SAN
FRANCISCO, September 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S.
President George W. Bush's rival in the 2000 presidential election
warned Monday, September 23, that America's enemies "will be
legion" if it embarks on the path of seeking world dominance
instead of partnership and cooperation.
Former
U.S. vice president Al Gore, who won the popular vote two years ago but
failed to gain enough electoral college votes to win the White House,
issued his warning three days after Bush unveiled a national security
strategy that calls for ensuring U.S. military dominance in the world.
"If
what America represents to the world is leadership in a commonwealth of
equals, then our friends are legion," Gore, a potential 2004
Democratic presidential contender, said at the Commonwealth Club, a
respected San Francisco-based public affairs forum. "If what we
represent to the world is an empire, then it is our enemies who will be
legion."
Gore,
the first Democrat to severely criticize the new Bush administration
policy of seeking pre-emptive strikes against possible security threats,
said the strategy painted the United States as a unilateralist bully and
undermined international goodwill sparked by the Sept. 11 attacks,
reports news agencies.
"That
has been squandered in a year's time and replaced with fear, anxiety and
uncertainty all around the world - not about what the terrorist networks
are going to do, but about what we're going to do," Gore said.
"By
shifting from his early focus after September 11 on war against
terrorism to war against Iraq, the President has manifestly disposed of
the sympathy, goodwill and solidarity compiled by America and
transformed it into a sense of deep misgiving and even hostility,"
he said.
The
former vice president also said he was deeply concerned by what the new
strategy meant in view of the administration's plans to topple Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein.
"I
am deeply concerned that the course of action that we are presently
embarking upon with respect to Iraq has the potential to seriously
damage our ability to win the war against terrorism and to weaken our
ability to lead the world in this new century," he said.
"To
begin with, the doctrine is presented in open-ended terms, which means
that if Iraq is the first point of application it is not necessarily the
last," he warned.
He argued that the very logic of the strategy unveiled by the White
House suggested a string of military engagements against a succession of
sovereign states such as Syria, Libya, North Korea and Iran.
"The
very logic of the concept suggests a string of military engagements
against a succession of sovereign states," Gore said. "If
other nations exert the same right, then the rule of law would quickly
be replaced by the reign of fear."
"It also means that if the Congress approves the Iraq resolution
just proposed by the administration, it would be simultaneously creating
the precedent for preemptive action anywhere, anytime this or any future
president, as a single individual, albeit head of state, decides that it
is time," Gore said.
Urging
Congress to take a closer look at Bush's proposals before giving
approval for any Iraqi action, he urged the President to address what he
called "numerous doubts" about whether Washington's war talk
was aimed in part at delivering Republican votes in the November
mid-term election, reports news agencies.
Congress
is expected to vote soon to authorize action.
Calling
it a distraction from the war on terrorism that has ''squandered''
international support for the United States, saying the administration
risked undermining international rule of law by setting its sights on
"regime change" in Baghdad, he lashed out at Bush support for
pre-emptive strikes, calling it "a go it alone, cowboy-style"
approach to foreign policy, reports news agencies.
"If
you are going after [famed Wild West outlaw] Jesse James, you ought to
organize the posse first," Gore said.
The
former vice president also questioned Bush's strategic priorities,
arguing that the course of action the United States was presently
pursuing with respect to Iraq could seriously jeopardize the U.S.
"war against terrorism," suggesting that Bush had turned his
attention to Baghdad because Saddam Hussein would be easier to find than
fugitive al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, whose fate remains unknown,
reports USA Today.
Washington
should first focus on tracking down the leaders of the al-Qaeda network
and eliminating the terrorist threat to the United States before
embarking on a risky new campaign, he said.
"We
have other enemies, but we should focus first and foremost as our top
priority on winning the war against terrorism," he said, adding
that, "Great nations persevere and then prevail, they do not jump
from one unfinished task to another."
"The
vast majority of those who sponsored, planned and implemented the
cold-blooded murder of more than 3,000 Americans are still at large,
still neither located nor apprehended, much less punished and
neutralized," Gore said. "I do not believe that we should
allow ourselves to be distracted from this urgent task simply because it
is proving to be more difficult and lengthy than was predicted."
Gore
said the lack of support for an attack on Iraq by U.S. allies could
shatter the international coalition Bush drew together last year to
fight terrorism following the deadly September 11 attacks.
"Our
ability to secure that kind of multilateral cooperation in the war
against terrorism can be severely damaged in the way we go about
undertaking unilateral action against Iraq," he said.
Gore
acknowledged that Saddam poses a serious threat to the Persian Gulf
region and to the United States, but suggested that Congress should
secure a U.N. resolution against Iraq before authorizing Bush to target
Baghdad.
A
quick war with Iraq now could create more problems than it solves -
costing taxpayers billions of dollars, fanning international fears about
U.S. unilateralism, and leaving post-war Iraq as unstable, dangerous and
disorganized as post-war Afghanistan, Gore commented. "The
resulting chaos in the aftermath of a military victory with Iraq could
easily pose a far greater danger to the United States than does
Saddam."
The
former vice President said he believed a draft resolution submitted by
Bush to Congress last week, which seeks authority to use force in the
Gulf region, was too broad "and needs to be narrowed
severely."
He
said the President should be authorized to take action to deal with
Saddam as being in material breach of U.N. resolutions.
"But
in any event, the president should be urged to take the time to assemble
the broadest possible international support for his course of
action," Gore said.
