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's the first time she's ever OVER-estimated health care costs. |
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.
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".