More from Al Gore

Al Gore struck again, this time at the Washington Democratic Covention:

Former Vice President Al Gore stepped up his slashing attack on President Bush on Friday night, accusing the administration of ruining the economy, destroying the nation's standing with its allies and waging a war in Iraq based on lies and deception.

Continuing the verbal pounding he began in New York last week, the Democrats' 2000 presidential nominee told the Washington state Democratic Convention that the Bush White House bears some culpability for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

"Those policies came out of the White House and no matter the wrongdoing of individual troops, they were ordered to wade into a moral cesspool and given ambiguous, conflicting instructions and then praised for doing things they shouldn't have been doing," Gore said. "I believe the abuse of those prisoners came directly from the abuse of the truth in the run-up to the war."

If the United States re-elects Bush, then American citizens share the blame, Gore added.

Gore's 50-minute speech frequently brought the audience to its feet, whooping and shouting.

Gore said he initially supported Bush's decision to invade Afghanistan, but now realizes that the administration was already secretly agitating to find some way to launch a war in Iraq.

"They decided to take advantage of 9-11 and exploit the fears and exploit the anger and redirect it away from the people who attacked us" and attack Iraq, he said.

Bush has "looted" the economy and turned projected multitrillion-dollar surpluses into deep deficits, Gore said.

"In the last three and a half years, this administration has tragically and recklessly squandered our legacy, while the special interest people were advising him behind closed doors," Gore declared.

The Bush administration's "single objective is to help the wealthy and powerful," he said, adding that the president likes to act tough but "whenever he is in the presence of a wealthy contributor, he is a moral coward."

Anyone with the text to the speech, please post it in the comments. Thanks!