SAN FRANCISCO - Former vice president Al Gore sharply challenged President Bush on Iraq this afternoon, warning that the administration's apparent determination to launch military action to dislodge President Saddam Hussein will "seriously damage" efforts to win the war on terrorism and "weaken our ability to lead the world."

In the most forceful critique of the administration by any leading Democrat, Gore challenged the administration's new doctrine of preemption, gave voice to critics who question the political timing of the administration's push for action in Congress and the United Nations and argued that Bush has shifted focus toward Iraq because the hunt for Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda terrorists has bogged down.

Gore's critique, delivered before the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, put him at odds with most of the other possible 2004 Democratic presidential candidates, who have been generally to strongly supportive of Bush on Iraq. A text of the speech was made available in Washington.

Gore, who last winter said the war on terrorism would require "a final reckoning" with Saddam Hussein, restated his belief that the Iraqi leader is a potential menace to the world. But he argued that even if the United States has the theoretical right to move unilaterally against Iraq, such a course could have disastrous consequences for America's standing in the world.

"I am deeply concerned that the policy we are presently following 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.

Gore said the war on terrorism requires a multilateral coalition that likely would be shattered by anything approaching unilateral action against Iraq. He also chided the administration for trying to start a new war without finishing the job of hunting down those responsible for the attacks of last Sept. 11 or of stabilizing a post-Taliban Afghanistan.

"I do not believe we should allow ourselves to be distracted from this urgent task simply because it is proving to be more difficult and lengthy than predicted," he said. "Great nations persevere and then prevail. They do not jump from one unfinished task to another."

Gore said Hussein "does pose a serious threat" to stability in the Persian Gulf and urged the administration to take the time to assemble an international coalition, much as Bush's father did before launching a war against Iraq in 1991. Whatever good will the United States created in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks has been put in jeopardy by the administration's concentration on Iraq, he added.

Noting that in 1991 he voted for the resolution authorizing Bush's father to wage war {ndash} one of a handful of Democrats in the Senate to do so, Gore argued that current UN resolutions are enough to justify action against Hussein for being in violation of those resolution. But he said the administration's saber rattling and talk of preemption and acting without broad international support is the wrong course.

Gore urged Congress to narrow the scope of the draft resolution Bush submitted last week and said lawmakers should also ask Bush to explain why unilateral action is justified, to seek more support from the United Nations and to outline in more detail what its post-Hussein plans are for reconstruction and stability in Iraq.

On the doctrine of preemption, Gore said the danger is that other nations will assume the same right as that asserted by the administration, and that the "rule of law will quickly be replaced by the reign of fear."

© 2002 The Washington Post Company

###