NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (search) said Tuesday that she is concerned President Bush is fueling the hate of terrorist organizations.
She told a crowd at the Yale Divinity School (search) that her worries are in response to the president suggesting that "Americans have a unique relationship with God or a better understanding of God's will than worshippers from other cultures and lands."
"From the beginning, the president has made it clear that we are at war with the terrorists and not with Islam. That is to his credit," Albright said.
"(But) it surely doesn't help when the American military official with responsibility for intelligence on Al Qaeda (search) claims that 'We are in the Army of God' and that George Bush was 'appointed by God,"' she said. The comments were made by Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin (search), deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence.
Albright said she believed, as the Bush Administration did, that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, but she questioned the wisdom of a pre-emptive strike against Iraq.
"I did not believe there was a connection to Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein," Albright said. "I now do think that Iraq has become a magnet, a gathering ground for all various groups that hate us."
Albright testified last week before the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. She said the Clinton administration used every tool it had to determine the right targets and acted when it could on the intelligence it had.
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