Al Gore accused Bush of intentionally lying to the people

Former Vice President Al Gore accused the Bush administration Thursday of intentionally lying to the American people claiming the existence of a strong connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, reports cnn.com.

"Beginning very soon after the attacks of 9/11, President Bush made a decision to start mentioning Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein in the same breath in a cynical mantra designed to fuse them together as one in the public's mind," Gore said.

According to reuters.com he also said that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney continue to argue for a connection between bin Laden's al Qaeda network and the deposed Iraqi regime because it supports their push for war in Iraq and justifies "some of the new power they've picked up from the Congress and the courts" since the 2001 hijack attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

"As a result, President Bush is now intentionally misleading the American people," Gore said. "Indeed, Bush's consistent and careful artifice is itself evidence that he knew full well that he was telling an artful and important lie -- visibly circumnavigating the truth over and over again as if he had practiced how to avoid encountering the truth."