Clark, Romney, Richardson campaign in N.H.
By Anne Saunders, Associated Press Writer | March 18, 2006
KENSINGTON, N.H. --Three potential presidential candidates said Saturday they agree there's no easy way to bring peace to Iraq, but they took different approaches to the challenge.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was the only one to suggest a pullout date for the American military, saying Iraqi security forces should be trained to take over by the end of this year or early next year.
"The time has come for a withdrawal," he told a group of Democrats gathered at a private home. America should use diplomacy to bring the different political factions together while it completes the training of Iraqi forces, he said.
"Our obsession with Iraq has caused us to glaringly miss some of our real challenges," he said, pointing at Iran, North Korea and Al-Qaida.
But Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, speaking earlier in the day, argued this is not the time to cut and run.
"To do so would leave the Iraqis in a setting where extreme violence could ensue and it would be irresponsible for us to change a regime, cause the collapse of their system of security, and walk away," he said.
"It is our responsibility always to be the super power," he told a group of Republican women in Concord. Islamic Jihadists want to destroy American's economy and its super power status, he said.
"Fortunately we have a president who recognizes how severe this threat is and realizes we have to wage war against such tactics and such a vision," he said.
At New England College, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark said that preventing civil war in Iraq will require America's political influence, not just its military force.
Clark, a Democrat, said the United States should be pushing Shiite Muslims to include Sunnis in the government and to ensure the country's oil wealth is shared by all.
"This is the decisive moment in Iraq," he said, on the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion. "It is a political problem primarily, not a military one."
Clark opposed setting a pullout date for American military forces.
"If we pull out before there's stability in Iraq, before there's been peacemaking between the Sunnis and the Shi'as, I do think the likelihood is we'll have deeper conflict and it will become regional in scale." Clark noted that the tensions between the two major Muslim sects extend well beyond Iraq's borders.
"Iraq is the key country, sitting on this schism between Shi'a Islam and Sunni Islam. That's a 1,300 year civil war within Islam that's being fought out in Iraq right now," he said.
Clark spoke to about 100 people, many of whom had supported him when he sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2004. Clark said nothing about 2008, but said he was campaigning to get more Democrats elected to Congress this year.
Romney also was silent on any presidential plans and said he was campaigning to elect more Republican governors. Richardson said he was in New Hampshire to support Democratic state Sen. Maggie Hassan, of Exeter and other local candidates. He makes additional appearances in Manchester and at St. Anselm College in the next two days. |
