Sunday, 3 June 2007CAIRO ÔÇö Former US vice-president Al Gore hit out Saturday, June 2, at President George W. Bush for refusing to heed warnings of climate change's grave consequences, saying the adamancy is reminiscent of the administration's stance on serious intelligence estimates before the US invasion of Iraq.
"What the invasion of Iraq has in common with the climate crisis is that in both cases the best evidence was ignored," Gore told the Guardian in an interview.
"In both cases there was more than sufficient evidence to convince any reasonable person that the invasion of Iraq was a catastrophic mistake, and the failure to begin sharply reducing CO2 was an even worse mistake."
Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq in 2003 on claims that the Arab country was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.
A Senate report published last month concluded that Bush had ignored intelligence warnings that Iraq invasion would spark sectarian divisions, fuel extremism and boost Iran's role in the region.
The Bush administration has further rejected all proposals to tackle global warming.
Rather, the adamant president presented a "vague" and one-sided proposal to combat climate change that excludes the UN from the global task.
Scientists predict that average temperatures will rise by between 1.8 and 3.0 degrees Celsius this century because of greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, causing floods and famines while putting millions of lives at risk.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that by 2080 up to 3.2 billion people -- one third of the planet's population -- will be short of water, up to 600 million will be short of food and up to 7 million will face coastal flooding.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on May 3 accused the US of being climate enemy number one and ignoring science when it comes to global warming combat.
"Assault on Reason"
Gore's said his disgust with the Bush administration was much evident in his new book "The Assault on Reason".
In the book, Gore calls the Iraq invasion "the worst strategic mistake in the history of the United States."
He also accuses the Bush administration of presiding over a "moral cesspool".
The former president, who was defeated by Bush in the 2000 presidential election, writes Bush reminds him most strongly of former president Richard Nixon, that he is "out of touch with reality" and lacking in curiosity.
Writing in the Guardian last week, Gore assailed Bush's "dominance" drive, accusing him of undermining the country's moral authority in the world and fomenting hatred and contempt for the US
Former US president and Nobel Prize winner Jimmy Carter has said that the Bush administration was the worst ever in American history.
He said Bush was the first American president to eliminate the line between church and state, giving religious charities $2.15 billion in federal grants in fiscal year 2005 alone.
Bill Clinton, who served as president from 1993 to 2001, has also rapped the ideological policies of the Bush administration and the ruling Republican party.
June 3, 2007
Islam Online
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Sunday, 3 June 2007
US
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