September 10, 2003
At Debate, Democrats Clash Over Mideast
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JODI WILGOREN
ALTIMORE, Sept. 9 — The Democratic presidential candidates battled tonight over United States foreign policy in Iraq, with candidates who opposed the invasion ridiculing rivals who voted for the war but who have become critics of it as the Democratic presidential campaign took off.
In a debate sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus, two of the Democrats, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut and Dr. Howard Dean, a former governor of Vermont, also clashed heatedly over a statement Dr. Dean made last week that "it's not our place to take sides" in the Middle East.
"Howard Dean's statements break a 50-year record in which presidents — Republicans and Democrats, members of Congress — have supported our relationship with Israel," Mr. Lieberman said. He added, "We do not gain strength as negotiators if we compromise our support of Israel."
Dr. Dean responded, "I'm disappointed in Joe — my position is exactly the same as President Clinton's."
When Mr. Lieberman tried to respond in turn, Dr. Dean cut him off: "Excuse me, Joe: I didn't interrupt you. It doesn't help, Joe, to demagogue this issue. We're all Democrats and we need to beat George Bush in order to have peace in the Middle East."
The nationally televised debate involved all nine Democratic candidates and took place before a mostly black audience.
The session was marred by repeated interruptions by supporters of Lyndon LaRouche, who shouted down Mr. Lieberman and Senator John Kerry as they tried to speak. "Lyndon LaRouche for president," one protester yelled as he was escorted from the auditorium.
On stage, the candidates stood first uncomfortably and than impatiently, waiting for security to remove the disrupters. Finally, the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York scolded the protesters for disrupting what he described as a historic event.
"We are not at all going to tolerate the continual breakup of what we are trying to say here to the American people," Mr. Sharpton said. "You're playing this phony liberal game, and you wait until our night to act this out. You're going to respect us on this stage because we've got something to say."
Mr. Lieberman said, "Amen."
"I'll take that as an endorsement," said the ever-quick Mr. Sharpton.
Between the disruptions, the debate mainly focused on issues of foreign policy. Democratic candidates who supported the war in Congress — Mr. Kerry, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and Representative Richard A. Gephardt — repeatedly criticized Mr. Bush for the situation in Iraq, and raised concerns about his call for $87 billion to stabilize the country.
Mr. Gephardt repeated his description, used at a debate last week, of Mr. Bush's Iraq policy as "a miserable failure."
"Incredibly, four, five months after the war ended he does not have the help we need," he said. "It is an abomination that he has not gotten our country the help that we need."
Mr. Kerry, a Vietnam veteran, joined his rivals in arguing for international participation in the peacekeeping efforts in Iraq, and said that "unless we do that, this president runs the risk of turning this into a quagmire, potentially Vietnam."
"If we can open firehouses in Baghdad," he added, "we can keep them open in the United States of America."
But Democrats who opposed the war from the outset, addressing a crowd that, judged on the reaction, was clearly opposed to the Iraq invasion, challenged some of those statements. Representative Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio turned to Mr. Gephardt and noted that he had appeared with Mr. Bush to support his original Iraq policy.
"Dick, I just want to say when you were standing there in the Rose Garden with the president and you were giving him advice, I wish you had told him no," Mr. Kucinich said. "Because as our Democratic leader, your position helped to inform mightily the direction of the war. And I share your passion now about the direction the administration is taking this country."
And Mr. Sharpton said: "What bothers me is that some in the Congress that supported the president should have asked him before they gave him entrance what the exit was. That is a miserable failure, for us to allow this president to play these kinds of games."
The dominance that Dr. Dean has enjoyed, and the corresponding exasperation that has caused his rivals, was clear even before the candidates sat down in Baltimore tonight. Senator Kerry was talking to reporters before the debate here, where he was repeatedly questioned about Dr. Dean's standing in the race and things that he had said.
After Mr. Kerry finished his news conference and began walking away with an aide, David Wade, a live microphone picked him up muttering with evident annoyance: "Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean."
The juxtaposition of Mr. Bush asking for more money in Iraq while spending was being cut at home was noted repeatedly by Democrats tonight.
"This is the same administration who says we can't afford a real prescription drug benefit, we can't afford to invest in our public schools, but the American taxpayer can afford to pay for everything that is happening in Iraq on the ground," Mr. Edwards said.
But asked whether they would vote for Mr. Bush's request for $87 billion more for the war in Iraq, four of the six members of Congress offered murky answers, each saying he would vote to support the troops but also demand the peacekeeping force be internationalized.
Only Mr. Kucinich, who voted against the resolution to authorize the war, vowed to vote no on the $87 billion question. Only Mr. Lieberman, acknowledging that "it's more popular to say you don't want to send more troops," said he would.
Mr. Lieberman was alone among the Democrats in saying he would increase the troop force in Iraq, saying that it was essential to protect the safety of troops who were there now — which, he noted to this crowd, included a large number of African-Americans.
The attack on Dr. Dean by Mr. Lieberman was in response to remarks Dr. Dean made in Santa Fe, N.M., last week about Israel.
"I don't believe stopping the terror has to be a prerequisite for talking, you always talk. I don't find it convenient to blame people. Nobody should have violence, ever. But they do, and it's not our place to take sides.
"We all know that enormous numbers of the settlements that are there are going to have to come out," he added.
His statements were included in an Associated Press report on Thursday, but received little attention until Mr. Lieberman, after being alerted to the report over the weekend, sent out an e-mail statement on Monday denouncing the remarks.
Dr. Dean said in an interview before the debate that he was "very disappointed" in Senator Lieberman's "trying to make this into a divisive issue."
"Our position has to be: Let's bring the sides together," Dr. Dean said. "And that means not pointing fingers at both sides. It means bringing them together in a constructive way."
His campaign sent out a statement this evening condemning the latest bombings in Israel.
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