I know this asks for pure hypothesis, or guesswork if you will, but still…
Assuming all events leading up to, and including, 9/11 stayed the same, if Gore had won instead of Bush, would his reaction have been any different than that of Bush’s w.r.t. the US’s security concerns? I’m not referring to internal security concerns - the steps taken to beef that up, I would expect from the leader of any country in that position. What I’m wondering about is what steps would Gore have conceivably taken regarding external security.
Meaning:
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Would Gore have gone into Afghanistan the way GWB did, i.e. unilateral action, albeit with the full support and approval of the world? Or would he have gone in with a global coalition (which, IMO, would have not have been too difficult to put together given the circumstances), not unlike GB Sr.?
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Would Gore have gone to war in Iraq based on the kind of ‘intelligence’ that has been available to Bush? Would Gore have gone into Iraq even if he hadn’t received the sanction of the UNSC?
IIRC, Iraq first came up with that as-yet-unproven link between SH and AQ. From the there story went on to include WMDs, WMD programs, hindrance to the work of the inspectors, and finally the ‘he’s a tyrant’ angle. It was never proved beyond a reasonable doubt (in the opinion of most of the world, at least) that Iraq posed an immediate or any threat to the US, which would perhaps justify an invasion by the US.
Obviously Gore would have a completely different team to aide him and would consequently have different opinions presented to him. However, the people providing the information would essentially remain the same, and so would the analyses they presented (I presume).
I’m not trying to prove a point here, and nor is this a Bush bashing thread (if it comes across as one, it was not intended). I suppose I was wondering whether things would have been different if Gore had become President.
FWIW, I’d be real scared if the majority here felt that things wouldn’t have been all that different.
I would’ve posted this in IMHO, but I figure this will most likely turn into a debate. This way, I’m saving the mods some work