Supported early action in Bosnia; no “Vietnam syndrome”
Gore’s war experience left him wary of the reflexive anti-interventionism--the so-called Vietnam Syndrome--that characterized Democratic attitudes towards foreign policy in the 1970s and 1980s. As Vice President, he was a strong and early proponent
of military action in Bosnia. In Congress he supported intervention in the Persian Gulf and Grenada and, in some instances, aid to the Nicaraguan contras. “We’ve over-learned the lessons of Vietnam,” he said in 1984.
Source: Inventing Al Gore, p. 87-8
Committed to the survival & security of Israel
[In the 1988 presidential campaign, Gore] denounced Jesse Jackson for his embrace of Yasser Arafat and assailed front-runner Michael Dukakis as “absurdly timid” for not confronting him. “I categorically deny Jackson’s notion that there’s a moral
equivalency between Israel and the PLO,” he said. “In a Gore administration, no one will have reason to doubt America’s commitment to the survival and security of Israel.” Gore rejected the newest White House proposal of a land-for-peace deal.
Source: Inventing Al Gore, p.209
Supported Gulf War; costs of war less than alternative
[In Jan. 1991], with nearly 400,000 troops bug into the Saudi desert, Bush was asking Congress to approve the use of force in the Persian Gulf. Although Gore tended to oversell the hawkish aspects of his record in 1988, he had never been a “Vietnam
Syndrome” Democrat, reflexively opposing any projection of American force. He was also squarely on record against the threat posed by Iraq. In the fall of 1988 he had twice called on the Reagan administration to take a hard line against Saddam for his
use of chemical weapons against Iran and his own Kurdish population.
On the Senate floor in 1991, Gore said, “I have struggled to confront this issue. [and] to strike a balance. The risks of war are horrendous. The real costs of war are also
horrendous. But what are the costs and risks if the alternative policy does not work? I think they are larger, greater, more costly.” Gore joined 9other Democrats who broke ranks on a 52-47 vote to authorize the use of force in the Persian Gulf.
Source: Inventing Al Gore, p.238-9
The above quotations are from Inventing Al Gore, by Bill Turque.
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