(Via CNN.com.)
The sharp differences between the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates over the war in Iraq shared the spotlight Tuesday during Senate hearings.
Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said that success in Iraq was “within reach” at the beginning of the high-profile hearing on Iraq involving Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. general in Iraq, and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, the top American diplomat in Baghdad.
“Our goal — my goal — is an Iraq that no longer needs American troops, and I believe we can achieve that goal, perhaps sooner than many imagine,” McCain said.
“But I also believe that the promise of withdrawal of our forces regardless of the consequences would constitute a failure of political and moral leadership.”
“Success — the establishment of peaceful, democratic state, the defeat of terrorism — this success is within reach,” he said. “Congress must not choose to lose in Iraq. We must choose to succeed.”
In apparent response to McCain, Sen. Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that the opposite was true: It would be “irresponsible” to continue a failed policy in Iraq. Video Watch the candidates take part in the hearings ยป
She said it was “time to begin an orderly process of withdrawing our troops” from Iraq in order to focus on Afghanistan and other U.S. interests.
“It might well be irresponsible to continue the policy that has not produced results that have been promised time and time again,” she said, noting a “lack of political progress over the past six months” in Iraq.
And Sen. Barack Obama, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, questioned whether the conditions set by U.S. commanders for withdrawal would lead to a war that could last 20 to 30 years.
He called the invasion of Iraq a “massive strategic blunder” that enabled al Qaeda and Iran to spread their influence into Iraq, and he said the United States should pressure Iraqi officials to settle the war by threatening to leave.
“Nobody’s asking for a precipitous withdrawal. But I do think it has to be a measured, but increased, pressure and a diplomatic surge that includes Iran,” Obama said. “Because if [Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki] can tolerate normal neighbor-to-neighbor relations in Iran, then we should be talking to them as well. I do not believe we’re going to be able to stabilize the situation without them.”
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