Candidates' Divide on Iraq War Widens

Republican presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks during a rally on the first day of his "No Surrender Tour", Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) (Charlie Neibergall - AP)

Obama made his remarks a day before President Bush was expected to announce plans to reduce the U.S. troop presence in Iraq by as many as 30,000 by next summer from the 160,000 there now.

Republican hopeful Mitt Romney assailed Obama, arguing that the country would be less safe had the Illinois senator's drawdown strategy _ "his retreat for political purpose" _ been employed last January as he proposed.

"If we had followed his plan, al-Qaida would have a safe haven in Iraq and Osama bin Laden would be celebrating," Romney said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Midland, Texas, where he was campaigning.

"Had there not been a surge, had Barack Obama been running the country instead, al-Qaida would now have a safe haven in Iraq, which would have made Afghanistan's safe haven look like child's play. I think Barack Obama has disqualified himself for presidential leadership," Romney said. "If we take the kind of left turn represented by Barack Obama and his flee-in-the-face-of-success strategy, we'd be in a very different position as a nation."

McCain said Obama's ideas are "dead wrong, and dangerous for the future of the country."

Clinton also weighed in on the war Wednesday, sending Bush a letter urging him to bring troops home faster and not to use his prime-time speech Thursday to declare new successes in Iraq. She said Bush's planned announcement of a troop reduction would have happened any way when the troops would have had to come home at the end of their 15-month deployment.

"He is in essence going to tell the American people that one year from now the number of troops in Iraq will be the same as there were one year ago," she said after picking up the endorsement of the National Association of Letter Carriers in Washington. "Taking credit for this troop reduction is like taking credit for the sun coming up in the morning."

In criticizing the administration's current strategy, Clinton also linked the president's anticipated speech to the one he gave more than four years ago on an aircraft carrier under a banner that read "Mission Accomplished."

"Mr. President, we don't need another mission accomplished moment," she said. "What we need is honesty and candor."

But two other Democratic candidates, John Edwards and Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, chastised Obama and Clinton for not pursuing a troop withdrawal vigorously enough. Another rival, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, called Obama's plan dangerous and argued that he had dodged the question of how many troops he would leave in the country.

Edwards _ who has been calling for an immediate withdrawal of 40,000-50,000 troops and a complete withdrawal of all combat troops within nine to 10 months _ said Obama's plan would only "'begin' to end this war now."

"Our young men and women are dying every day for a failed policy. Every member of Congress who believes this war must end, from Senators Obama and Clinton to (GOP Sen. John) Warner, has a moral responsibility to use every tool available to them, including a filibuster, to force the president to change course," said Edwards, the former North Carolina senator.