- NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Former
vice president Al Gore on Thursday accused President George Bush of abusing
the trust of Americans by playing on their fears as he led the United States
to war against Iraq.
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- Gore, who lost the contested 2000 presidential election
to Bush, said that like most Americans he rallied behind Bush after the
September 11 attacks, trusting his claims of ties between Iraq and al-Qaeda
extremists blamed for the attacks and taking his word that Iraq had weapons
of mass destruction.
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- But Bush's decision to enter into a war with Iraq was
taken under "patently false pretenses," Gore said in a keynote
address at a conference at the New School University.
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- "Fear was activated on September 11 for all of us,"
he said. "And it was exploitable for a variety of purposes unrelated
to the initial cause of fear."
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- Gore said the Bush administration had no scruples about
using fear of terrorists as a means "to punch holes in the basic protections
of the Constitution, to create a class of permanent prisons and to make
it possible to imprison American citizens without due process".
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- On international relations, Gore said "the administration
has willingly traded in respect for the United States in favor of fear."
The normal debate over policy that takes place in a healthy democracy was
muted after September 11, he said.
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- "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 Bush is my president. I
will follow him in this time of crisis.'
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- "I was one of millions who asked him to lead us
wisely and well, and he abused the trust of the people by exploiting the
fears of the American people in order to take this nation on an adventure
that had been preordained before the attacks of September 11 ever took
place."
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- ©2004. All rights strictly reserved.
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- http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=3&art_id=qw107604468331B251&
amp;set_id=1
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