Salon -- Gored! The Salon Interview with Al Gore

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One answer from his interview concerning Bush's plan on Iraq and the war on terrorism:

I commend the president for changing the policy, at least the stated policy, and investing heavily in the United Nations, getting a unanimous vote in the Security Council, even Syria's vote -- I think that's an impressive accomplishment. I don't know what that really means for our policy, because apparently the rest of the world reads the resolution differently from the way we do, and it's unclear whether Secretary [of State Colin] Powell's temporary victory in the internal combat will prevail next week and the week after. You just don't know with this administration. But still, I think that this is a positive change.

I still disagree with the policy, however, on other grounds. I think that building an international coalition is a good thing. In San Francisco, I said that if you're going after Jesse James you need to organize a posse first, and I noticed in the newspaper this morning the president said in his remarks that he feels good to have organized a posse. But I think there's another significant factor that is a big problem for the country. He has lost focus on the war against terror. His decision, for whatever reason, to roll out a new product line after Labor Day, in the words of his chief of staff, and focus on a brand-new war in the run-up to the election had significant consequences.

Just look at what's going on now. FBI sources are telling the newspapers that the agency has lost focus. The CIA officials are telling the newspapers that precious resources needed for the war against terrorism are being diverted to war against Iraq. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said publicly that we're losing ground in Afghanistan. The director of central intelligence said al-Qaida's reconstituted itself and poses just as dire a threat to us right now as they did in the weeks immediately prior to Sept. 11. Osama bin Laden is back on the cover of Time magazine making regular threats to kill us.

And instead of directing the war against terror in a single-minded, focused way, the president has spent the last several months campaigning against Saddam Hussein, beating the drums of war, running ads against people like [Sen.] Max Cleland, [D-Ga.,] accusing him of being unpatriotic even though he lost three limbs on the battlefield. And two things have resulted from that: The Republicans have won both houses of Congress, and the nation has lost ground in the war against terrorism.

A short interview but worth reading.