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American Morning
Interview With Al Gore
Aired December 11, 2002 - 07:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We have been seeing a lot of Al Gore lately, no surprise really. He and his wife, Tipper, promoting two books right now. He's the host of "Saturday Night Live" this weekend, and last but certainly not least, still making up his mind about a run for the White House in 2004, now just 23 short months away.
Yesterday, Paula sat down, talked with the former vice president. Al Gore, once again, some criticism toward the White House and President Bush's leadership.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's a mistake to tell the American people, as President Bush has, that the al Qaeda terrorist group of Osama bin Laden is the same thing as Iraq under Saddam Hussein. He said they're virtually the same thing. Well, that's not true. They're not.
And if you ask the intelligence community, they say we don't have any evidence of a connection there, and the White House hasn't been willing to make any evidence public. I don't think they have any.
But -- so why...
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Of any connection between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.
GORE: Iraq and al Qaeda, that's right. And so, why did they launch a war against Iraq right before the elections, when the war on terrorism should have remained our top priority and our principal focus.
ZAHN: But the war has never been launched. It was just the prospect of war.
GORE: Well, OK, a good point, but it certainly dominated the political dialogue between Labor Day and Election Day. And...
ZAHN: Are you accusing the Bush administration of the "wag the dog" syndrome?
GORE: I can't see inside their hearts. I don't know what their motivations are. I do know that the White House chief of staff, Andrew Card, was asked about the timing, and he said, well, you don't launch a new product line until after Labor Day. I don't think war is a product line. And I don't think that you reach out for a new product line just because the old one may be getting less public attention or something, particularly if it's something like the war on terrorism. They have diverted resources from the war against terrorism to the war against Saddam Hussein.
Now, Saddam Hussein is a bad guy, and I'm all for him being removed from power. I don't think it's wise for us to unilaterally invade another country for that particular purpose. And more importantly, I don't think that it's wise to lose focus on the war against terrorism in order to launch a new war, whether it's after Labor Day or before the election or whatever time. I think we need to keep our eyes on the ball.
ZAHN: Are you saying, then, that the Bush administration manufactured the issue of...
GORE: No, no.
ZAHN: ... weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to blur the economic picture at the time of the midterm elections?
GORE: I'm not saying anything about their inner motivations. I'm saying that I think they made a mistake in launching this policy at a time when we should have kept the focus on the war against terrorism.
ZAHN: Do you feel it was a failure of the Clinton administration that you didn't do more to get Osama bin Laden?
GORE: I think that ought to be looked at thoroughly, and along with what the current administration did. I think that we did -- I know that we did an awful lot, because we tried to get him on several occasions, and of course, it wasn't possible to have a military invasion of Afghanistan before we were attacked from there the way it was possible after 9/11.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Al Gore with Paula from yesterday. We're going to get the second part of that interview in our 9:00 a.m. Eastern hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.
One thing the former vice president has said for months now, he will make his decision as to whether or not he'll run for the White House in 2004 sometime over the holidays. As we all know right now, that is coming upon us very quickly.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired December 11, 2002 - 07:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We have been seeing a lot of Al Gore lately, no surprise really. He and his wife, Tipper, promoting two books right now. He's the host of "Saturday Night Live" this weekend, and last but certainly not least, still making up his mind about a run for the White House in 2004, now just 23 short months away.
Yesterday, Paula sat down, talked with the former vice president. Al Gore, once again, some criticism toward the White House and President Bush's leadership.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's a mistake to tell the American people, as President Bush has, that the al Qaeda terrorist group of Osama bin Laden is the same thing as Iraq under Saddam Hussein. He said they're virtually the same thing. Well, that's not true. They're not.
And if you ask the intelligence community, they say we don't have any evidence of a connection there, and the White House hasn't been willing to make any evidence public. I don't think they have any.
But -- so why...
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Of any connection between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.
GORE: Iraq and al Qaeda, that's right. And so, why did they launch a war against Iraq right before the elections, when the war on terrorism should have remained our top priority and our principal focus.
ZAHN: But the war has never been launched. It was just the prospect of war.
GORE: Well, OK, a good point, but it certainly dominated the political dialogue between Labor Day and Election Day. And...
ZAHN: Are you accusing the Bush administration of the "wag the dog" syndrome?
GORE: I can't see inside their hearts. I don't know what their motivations are. I do know that the White House chief of staff, Andrew Card, was asked about the timing, and he said, well, you don't launch a new product line until after Labor Day. I don't think war is a product line. And I don't think that you reach out for a new product line just because the old one may be getting less public attention or something, particularly if it's something like the war on terrorism. They have diverted resources from the war against terrorism to the war against Saddam Hussein.
Now, Saddam Hussein is a bad guy, and I'm all for him being removed from power. I don't think it's wise for us to unilaterally invade another country for that particular purpose. And more importantly, I don't think that it's wise to lose focus on the war against terrorism in order to launch a new war, whether it's after Labor Day or before the election or whatever time. I think we need to keep our eyes on the ball.
ZAHN: Are you saying, then, that the Bush administration manufactured the issue of...
GORE: No, no.
ZAHN: ... weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to blur the economic picture at the time of the midterm elections?
GORE: I'm not saying anything about their inner motivations. I'm saying that I think they made a mistake in launching this policy at a time when we should have kept the focus on the war against terrorism.
ZAHN: Do you feel it was a failure of the Clinton administration that you didn't do more to get Osama bin Laden?
GORE: I think that ought to be looked at thoroughly, and along with what the current administration did. I think that we did -- I know that we did an awful lot, because we tried to get him on several occasions, and of course, it wasn't possible to have a military invasion of Afghanistan before we were attacked from there the way it was possible after 9/11.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Al Gore with Paula from yesterday. We're going to get the second part of that interview in our 9:00 a.m. Eastern hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.
One thing the former vice president has said for months now, he will make his decision as to whether or not he'll run for the White House in 2004 sometime over the holidays. As we all know right now, that is coming upon us very quickly.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
