Bush played politics of fear for war: Gore

Former Vice-President Al Gore on Thursday accused President George W. Bush of abusing the Americans’ trust by playing on their fears a...

Former Vice-President Al Gore on Thursday accused President George W. Bush of abusing the Americans’ trust by playing on their fears as he led the US to war against Iraq. Gore said that like most Americans he rallied behind Bush after the 9/11 attacks, trusting his claims of ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda extremists blamed for the attacks and taking his word that Iraq had WMDs.

But Bush’s decision to enter into a war with Iraq was taken under ‘‘patently false pretenses,’’ Gore said. ‘‘Fear was activated on 9/11 for all of us. And it was exploitable for a variety of purposes unrelated to the initial cause of fear.’’

Gore said the Bush administration had no scruples about using fear of terrorists as a means ‘‘to punch holes in the protections of the Constitution, to create a class of permanent prisons and make it possible to imprison American citizens without due process.’’ Gore said ‘‘the administration has willingly traded in respect for the US in favour of fear.’’ ‘‘At a time of great vulnerability we placed our trust in President Bush,’’ said Gore, who recalled addressing the Iowa Democratic convention in the autumn of 2001.

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‘‘I had a different sort of message prepared but in the aftermath of the tragedy, I said ‘George W. Bush is my President. I will follow him in this time of crisis’.’’

‘‘I was one of millions who asked him to lead us, and he abused our trust by exploiting the fears of the American people in order to take this nation on an adventure that was preordained before the attacks of 9/11 ever took place.’’ — (Reuters)

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