Gore backs Bush in war against terrorism

Al Gore

DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) -- Saying the country is more united than ever, former Vice-President Al Gore Saturday pledged his allegiance to the man he conceded victory to last year in one of the closest presidential elections in American history.

"George W. Bush is my commander in chief," Gore said during the keynote speech at the Iowa Democratic Party's 2001 Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner.

Gore, sporting the greying beard he grew while vacationing in Europe earlier this year, commended Bush on his leadership in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

"We are united behind our president George W. Bush, behind our country, behind the effort to seek justice not revenge, to make sure this can never, ever happen again, and to make sure that we have the strongest unity in America that we have ever had," Gore said.

Gore told attendees at the party's largest fundraising event that he believes the United States will win the war on terrorism.

"We will prevail. The Pentagon will be made stronger, our skies will be made safer our people more steadfast," he said.

The annual fundraising dinner is usually a time when speakers take shots at their Republican counterparts, but Gore's tone was one of reconciliation.

"It will be hard for President Bush to find the right path," he said. "So, as Democrats, let's keep this bi-partisanship alive for as long as our country faces this threat."

The war on terrorism, Gore said, is a call for the country to unite.

"Regardless of party, regardless of ideology, regardless of religion or race or ethnicity, there are no divisions in this country where our response to the war on terrorism is concerned. We are united."

This was Gore's first speech since he conceded defeat to Bush last December. Since then, he's kept a low public profile.

In August, he and former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander, a Republican, co-sponsored a bi-partisan political workshop for students at Vanderbilt University.