Former US Vice President Al Gore denounced on Wednesday the Bush Administration's Iraq war plan as "incompetent" and demanded the resignation of some top officials in the administration.

In a speech made in New York University in Manhattan, Gore rated George W. Bush as the most dishonest president since RichardNixon, who resigned from the office of presidency in 1974 because of the Watergate scandal.

Blaming the officials for the "catastrophe" in Iraq, he said that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and CIA director George Tenet should step down.

"We simply cannot afford to increase the risk to our country with more blunders by this team," he told a crowded auditorium atthe university.

"Donald Rumsfeld ought to resign immediately," he said, adding "Our nation is at risk every single day Rumsfeld remains as secretary of defense."

Rice "ought to resign immediately. She has badly mishandled the coordination of national security policy. This is a disaster for our country."

Although describing Tenet as a "honorable man," Gore said the CIA boss should still leave his position for intelligence failures.

Source: Xinhua