SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Former Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore came out strongly on Monday against any "precipitous" U.S. attack on Iraq, saying the Bush administration has embarked on a dangerous course that could alienate allies and derail the war on terror.

"If you are going after Jesse James you ought to organize the posse first," Gore said in a speech to the Commonwealth Club of California.

He added, 'We should focus first and foremost on our top priority -- winning the war against terrorism."

In one of the strongest Democratic broadsides yet launched against U.S. moves toward an attack on Iraq, Gore said such an attack would cost American taxpayers "hundreds of billions of dollars," leave Iraq dangerously unstable and destroy the international goodwill the United States has sought to build since the Sept. 11 attacks.

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