Gore Debuts Global Warming Film

WASHINGTON -- Former Vice President Al Gore debuted his global-warming documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," Wednesday night to a Washington audience that included members of Congress and Queen Noor of Jordan.

When he found out when the Washington screening was scheduled, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he told Gore, "I'll make sure we're not going to have any votes tonight so we can come see your movie." Reid said the Bush administration has made a number of mistakes but that "nothing is comparable to his ignoring the death of our planet."

The Washington premiere at the National Geographic Society was held a day after Sharon Stone, David Duchovny and celebrities turned up at the film's Los Angeles screening.

"This movie makes it possible to take a message to many more people in a much shorter period of time," Gore said when he introduced the documentary on Wednesday. It features the former vice president as its main on-screen star.

Gore had been touring the country giving a slideshow presentation of pictures depicting the effects of global warming. Queen Noor, Reid and director Davis Guggenheim all said they became involved with the film after seeing Gore's presentation.

Noor, the American-born widow of King Hussein, told The Associated Press that she has cared about environmental causes since she participated in the first Earth Day in 1970 and thought Gore's film was important because "it's objective, it's nonpartisan."