Catch the terrorists first, Gore tells Bush

Al Gore, the former US vice president, last night delivered a blistering attack on the Bush administration's possible invasion of Iraq, warning that the president risks derailing the war on terrorism by alienating allies.

In one of the strongest Democratic broadsides against the president's plans for Iraq, Mr Gore suggested it was simply an easier target for an administration that has so far failed to break the terrorist networks responsible for last year's assaults on New York and Washington DC.

He said that the perception among key allies that President Bush was acting from political motives was damaging support for the US.

"I am deeply concerned that the course of action we are presently embarking on 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.

"I don't think we should allow anything to diminish our focus on dismantling that network of terrorists that we know were responsible. The fact that we don't know where they are should not cause us to focus instead on some other enemy whose location may be easier to identify."

Tracking down the terrorists behind the September 11 attacks should remain the priority he said. "I do not 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."

Mr Gore stopped short of directly making the accusation of political motivation behind the president's bellicose rhetoric but noted that others were raising the question. He said the timing of the president's resolution ahead of mid-term elections was bound to raise eyebrows.

"This has become a problem for our country's effort to build a national consensus and an international coalition," he said. "Look at the entire German election campaign. It revealed a profound and troubling change in the attitude of the German electorate toward the US.

"We see our most loyal ally Tony Blair, who I think is a fantastic leader, getting into serious trouble with the British electorate because of similar doubts that have been raised."

The address in San Francisco to the Commonwealth Club of California was met with raucous approval.

The speech was delivered as lawmakers in Washington began working on a proposed resolution authorising the use of force against Baghdad. But there were some signs of disquiet at the weekend when a number of Democrats questioned how broad the first draft of the resolution was. Democrats uneasy with the rush to war are trying to come up with alternatives to the Bush resolution.

Work on the resolution is taking place behind closed doors and a vote is not expected until at least the first week of October.

The address was also seen as a chance for Mr Gore to regain the spotlight and perhaps relaunch himself as a candidate for the next presidential campaign in 2004.

Mr Gore said he supported the aim of regime change in Iraq but said action needed international support. "If you are going after Jesse James, you ought to organise the posse first," he said. His comments were dismissed by the White House as "irrelevant".