By Ronald Baygents, KUNA
Washington : Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, in their final debate late on Tuesday before key U.S. primary elections next week, both said they would pull U.S. troops from Iraq quickly if the Iraqi government demanded it.
Asked during the debate in Cleveland, Ohio, if, as president, they would order U.S. forces to leave Iraq if the Iraqi government “asks you to go home now,” Obama said, “Yes. They are a sovereign government.” Clinton responded, “Absolutely,” and said there was no military solution in Iraq.
The debate, widely viewed as especially important for the faltering Clinton campaign, started lively but finished low key. Obama praised Clinton in his closing remarks, as Clinton did for Obama in her closing remarks during their debate two weeks ago in Texas.
After reading a recent quote in which Clinton said Obama lacked enough experience and compared him to President George W. Bush, Obama said Clinton “equates experience with longevity in Washington,” which is “not the accurate measurement.” Obama again cited his judgment in his initial opposition to the Iraq war, and again noted that Clinton voted to authorize the war. Clinton countered by noting that Obama, who was elected to the U.S.
Senate in 2004, was not in the Senate when the Iraq war resolution passed in 2002, thus he did not have to vote on the issue. Since Obama became a senator, Clinton said, the two have voted “exactly the same” on subsequent Iraq war measures, including funds for the war.
Describing the Iraq war as “a big strategic blunder,” Obama said his role on Iraq since becoming a senator was like dealing with “a bus driven into the ditch,” and he was working to get the bus out of the ditch.
Incorporating Clinton’s line that she has the experience to be president on “day one,” Obama said Clinton “was ready to give in to Bush on this issue (the Iraq war) on day one,” and that she “facilitated and enabled” Bush to invade Iraq in 2003.
Obama again called for a phased U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, giving the Iraqi government some time for political reconciliation, but said the United States would not “be held hostage” to the Iraqi government. The 12-billion-dollar-per-month cost of the Iraq war is unsustainable, Obama said. The United States finds itself bogged down in a war, Obama noted, that likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain has said might continue for 100 years.
Clinton said that last summer Obama “basically threatened to bomb Pakistan, ” and that was a position he should not have taken. She also again said she disagreed with his statements that as president he “would meet with the worst dictators in the world without preconditions.” Obama denied having said he would bomb Pakistan. He said his remarks were that if the United States had “actionable intelligence” on the location of Osama bin Laden or other high-level al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan, and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf objected to the United States taking action, that, as U.S. president, he would act anyway.
Clinton said she has more foreign policy experience and would be able to make “a better case” against McCain in the November general election for president.
She again said that as president she would begin an “orderly withdrawal” of U.S. forces from Iraq within 60 days of assuming the presidency, with one to two combat brigades leaving per month.
Asked if either would send U.S. troops back into Iraq if “Iraq goes to hell, ” Clinton said that was too hypothetical. Obama said he would reserve the right as commander in chief “to look out for American interests,” and that if al Qaeda was forming a base in Iraq or in other places, it would be his job as president to take action to root out terrorists.
Told that controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan — who like Obama is an African-American from Chicago, Illinois — had recently endorsed his presidential campaign, and that Farrakhan has been a sharp critic of Israel and Jews, Obama said he did not seek that endorsement. Obama said he has been “a stalwart friend of Israel,” that the United States and Israel have a “special relationship,” and that the security of Israel is “sacrosanct.” Obama said he wanted to build a “special relationship between African-American and Jewish communities” in the United States.
Pressed by Clinton to reject Farrakhan, not just renounce him, Obama said he would “concede the point,” and that he would “reject and renounce” Farrakhan.
Asked if a photo of Obama wearing an African turban and robe during a visit to Africa, which appeared on the Internet and ran in most U.S. newspapers recently, had come from the Clinton campaign, Clinton said, “So far as I know it did not.” Obama said he took her word on that, and that was the end of that issue, as far as he was concerned.
The first part of the debate focused on health care issues, then the North American Free Trade Agreement and the loss of U.S. jobs, especially in Ohio, which will hold its presidential primary next Tuesday along with Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont.
Obama has won 11 straight U.S. presidential primaries or caucuses, and leads Clinton in delegates in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination. Most political analysts believe the Clinton campaign may be near its end if Clinton does not win in Texas and Ohio next Tuesday.