Democrats are determined to fail. Just give them the opportunity, and they will do it. Hilary promises.
Senator Clinton, the former first lady who is trying to convince voters she has foreign policy gravitas, criticised both her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination Senator Barack Obama, and the Republicans' choice, Senator John McCain.
She said the war has sapped US military and economic strength, damaged US national security, taken the lives of nearly 4000 Americans and left thousands wounded.
"Our economic security is at stake," she said.
"Taking into consideration the long-term costs of replacing equipment and providing medical care for troops and survivors' benefits for their families, the war in Iraq could ultimately cost well over $1 trillion."
We cannot win Iraq war - Clinton
ReplyDeleteBy Jeff Mason
HILLARY Clinton said the Iraq war may end up costing Americans $1 trillion and further strain the economy, as she made her case for a prompt US troop pullout from a war "we cannot win".
This week marks the fifth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, but voters now say the economy is their top issue in the campaign for the November presidential election.
Senator Clinton, the former first lady who is trying to convince voters she has foreign policy gravitas, criticised both her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination Senator Barack Obama, and the Republicans' choice, Senator John McCain.
She said the war has sapped US military and economic strength, damaged US national security, taken the lives of nearly 4000 Americans and left thousands wounded.
"Our economic security is at stake," she said.
"Taking into consideration the long-term costs of replacing equipment and providing medical care for troops and survivors' benefits for their families, the war in Iraq could ultimately cost well over $1 trillion."
It has already cost $500 billion.
Senator Clinton said that while Senator Obama insists he will withdraw US troops in Iraq within 16 months of taking office, his former foreign policy adviser, Samantha Power, had said he might not follow through on the pledge.
"In uncertain times, we cannot afford uncertain leadership," Senator Clinton said.
Senator Obama, who routinely scolds Senator Clinton for having voted for a 2002 Senate resolution that authorised the war, fired back.
"I think Senator Clinton has a lot of chutzpah, as they say, to in some way to suggest that I'm the person who has not been clear about my positions on Iraq. I have been opposed to this war from the start," he told PBS.
In a potential blow to Senator Clinton's campaign, Florida's Democratic Party said it would not hold a rerun of the state's invalid primary election, leaving a decision on what to do with the state's delegates entirely to the national party.
"Today's announcement brings us no closer to counting the votes of the nearly 1.7 million people who voted in January. We hope the Obama campaign shares our belief that Florida's voters must be counted and cannot be disenfranchised," Senator Clinton's spokesman Phil Singer said.
Senator Clinton has called for seating the delegates from invalid contests in Florida and Michigan or staging the primaries again. She won both contests, but the national party had already decided to punish the states for holding their contests early by refusing to seat their delegates.
The Obama campaign said it hopes that all parties can agree on a fair resolution so Florida delegates can participate in the Democratic National Convention.
Senator Obama, who would be the first US black president, was due to deliver a speech about race on Tuesday in Philadelphia to try to put to rest questions about his Chicago preacher, Jeremiah Wright, an African-American who sometimes laces his sermons with anti-American rhetoric.
"I am going to be talking about not just Reverend Wright, but the larger issue of race in this campaign," he said.
Senator Obama leads Senator Clinton in nominating delegates ahead of the next important contest in Pennsylvania on April 22.
Senator McCain, who has clinched the Republican presidential nomination, drew fire from Senator Clinton as he visited Iraq as part of a Middle East and Europe swing this week that he hopes will remind Americans of his national security credentials.
She accused Senator McCain of joining President George W. Bush in pushing a "stay the course" policy that would keep US troops in Iraq for 100 years.
"They both want to keep us tied to another country's civil war, a war we cannot win," she said.
"That in a nutshell is the Bush/McCain Iraq policy. Don't learn from your mistakes, repeat them."
Senator Clinton said if elected she would convene military advisors and ask them to develop a plan to begin bringing US troops home within 60 days of taking office next January.
Senator McCain is a big backer of President Bush's troop build-up in Iraq, credited for slowing the death toll there. He told CNN that if Senator Clinton started bringing home troops, "al Qaeda wins".
Senator McCain appears to be benefiting from the protracted Democratic battle. Polls show him running slightly ahead or nearly even with both Senators Obama and Clinton in hypothetical matchups for the November election.