HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
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Reuters. 23 September 2002. Gore in California Speech Warns Against Iraq Attack.
[I never thought I'd see the day Al Gore would make the cut in
ProletarianNews -- but this speech signals in no uncertain terms that
the US mainstream is moving against Bush...]
SAN FRANCISCO -- Former Vice President Al Gore came out strongly on
Monday against any precipitous U.S. attack on Iraq, saying the Bush
administration has embarked on a dangerous course that could alienate
allies and derail America's war on terror.
Gore, who narrowly lost the 2000 presidential election to George W.
Bush, said in a major speech here that the Republican 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.
"Great nations persevere and then prevail, they do not jump from one
unfinished task to another," Gore said, warning that the war against
terrorism was far from over.
"I do not believe that we should allow ourselves to be distracted from
this urgent task (the war on terror) simply because it is proving to be
more difficult and lengthy than first predicted," Gore told an
enthusiastic audience at the Commonwealth Club of California in San
Francisco.
Gore, the only potential 2004 Democratic presidential contender who has
not spoken out on Iraq in recent weeks, broke his silence with a
spirited broadside against Bush administration policies, which he said
were sowing fear and confusion around the world.
"If you are going after (famed Wild West outlaw) Jesse James, you ought
to organize the posse first," Gore said.
Gore said the new Bush administration policy of seeking pre-emptive
strikes against possible security threats painted the United States as a
unilateralist bully and undermined international goodwill sparked by the
Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
"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.
Gore conceded that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was a potential threat
and said that Washington should seek the rest of the world's support in
devising a plan to deal with him "in a timely fashion."
He said he believed the United States had the right, under Article 51 of
the United Nations Charter, to take action against imminent threats and
could move against Iraq if it truly felt Baghdad's alleged drive to
acquire weapons of mass destruction put its interests in immediate
danger.
But he said 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.
"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," Gore said.
"If we end the war in Iraq the way we ended the war in Afghanistan, we
could very well be in a position where we are worse off than we are
today."
Gore saved some of his sharpest words for the newly announced doctrine
of pre-emption -- a strategy which calls on U.S. forces to strike first
against potential threats and ensure unchallenged U.S. military
superiority.
Calling the new policy a "go it alone, cowboy-type" approach to foreign
policy, Gore said Bush risked shaking the very foundations of the
international political order by flouting laws and disregarding world
opinion.
[N.B.]"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."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ProletarianNews
http://www.utopia2000.org
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