“The battle against terrorism is a battle for the value of human life and for freedom,” Gore said.

Gore also reiterated his support for any military action the Bush administration takes against those who carried out the attacks, saying the U.S. government will have to make difficult decisions in coming weeks.

“It is extremely difficult for President Bush to find the right path here,” Gore said.

“Whoever is in the White House would face extreme difficulties here.”

And Gore openly criticized those who have held peace rallies calling for no military response.

“We have an obligation to protect our people. We have been attacked,” Gore said. “This isn’t complicated to me. It isn’t complicated, like Vietnam was.”

While last night’s event covered serious subject matter, Gore often spoke in a conversational manner in responding to students’ questions, walking around the stage without his suit jacket on.

Students with tickets lined up more than an hour-and-a-half before the event in order to secure seats. All available tickets for the event were given out Monday in a matter of minutes, with many students even watching a simulcast of the event in overflow rooms at the Kennedy School.

Gore began his remarks by making light of the controversial end to his run for the presidency last year.

“I’m Al Gore, and I used to be the next President of the United States,” Gore quipped after being introduced by University President Lawrence H. Summers.

“You win some, you lose some, and then there’s that little known third category,” Gore added, drawing laughs and cheers from the crowd.

But when one student asked him directly about what may have been flaws in his campaign, Gore said last year’s presidential contest was not currently an important issue.

“I just don’t feel like talking about politics right now,” Gore said. “After what happened Sept. 11, all of that seems so distant.”

—Staff writer Imtiyaz H. Delawala can be reached at delawala@fas.harvard.edu.