Presidential Candidates Square Off on Iraq, Security

Jun 04, 07:39 AM

Current Headlines: By BETH FOUHY

By BETH FOUHY

The Associated Press

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Democratic presidential candidates clashed Sunday on Iraq and over the security of the country since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, trailing both New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in national polls, criticized their cautious approach in forcing President Bush to withdraw troops from Iraq.

While some members of Congress spoke out "loudly and clearly" last month against legislation to pay for the war through September but without a withdrawal timetable, "others did not," Edwards said.

"They went quietly to the floor of the Senate, cast the right vote. But there is a difference between leadership and legislating," Edwards told his rivals during the second Democratic debate.

Both Clinton and Obama voted against the bill - which passed - but without making a strong case against the legislation.

"I think it's obvious who I'm talking about," Edwards said.

Clinton disagreed with Edwards, both in his comments on her role on Iraq and in his characterization of Bush's global war on terrorism as a "political slogan, a bumper sticker."

As a New Yorker, "I have seen firsthand the terrible damage that can be inflicted on our country by a small band of terrorists," Clinton said.

Still, she said, "I believe we are safer than we were."

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