Gore and Iraq war

Al Gore has given another shrill speech condemning the war in Iraq and assigning sinister motives to Bush and his decision to go to war in Iraq. I find it hard to appreciate where Gore is going with this. I don't think the Republicans like going to war anymore than the Democrats do. It is true they believe in a strong defence as an effective policy of deterrence, but I don't think they relish the fact that they have to send young men and women into the black theatre of war. Back in the 60's, a few Republicans called the Korean war, the Democrats war. This speech is quite close to calling the war in Iraq, the Republican war.

Lets take a deep breath here and analyze this thing closely. 9/11 changed the entire face of this world. Terrorism was the next greatest threat that the West faced after the cold war. Bush rightfully so, went after the terrorists base in Afghanistan. It is still a work in progress and we should make sure we succeed at all costs and help that country get back on its feet. We simply cannot afford to abandon that country like we did back in the 80's.

As a President, having dealt with Afghanistan, he conjectured that the next biggest threat was from Iraq and its brutal dictator: Saddam Hussein. After all who could provide refuge to a fleeing mass of terrorists than a country whose leader shared many of the same ideas and goals. I guess people have a problem with this conclusion that Bush reached. At the time, the evidence laid out by the Bush administration pointed to the strength of this argument. In hindsight, the threat was not as severe as it was made out to be, evidenced by the fruitless search for WMD's. (A few people on the right including Cheney point to a few weapons violations and seizures as proof of WMD, but who are they kiddn'?). Compound this with the fact that Saddam in his years of misrule had left Iraq broken and stripped and far from an impending threat. But the intelligence (apparently of questionable veracity) we had appeared to bear out Bush's conclusions (Even the Clinton administration believed in the same intelligence) . Given the data points we had then, it appears to me that Bush made the right decision. If people disagree with this decision, and fault the logic and the way the Bush administration reached this conclusion, then the forum to voice their displeasure is in the November elections.

Speeches like Gore's, that allege that Bush willinging led us into war and wilfully lied to incite public opinion in support of a pre-determined war do not help public discourse and should be condemned. I don't think Bush lied. This is his worldview. It is up to us to either agree or change it come November.