WRAPUP 4-Clinton says "we cannot win" Iraq war

(Adds Florida Democrats reject revote)

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton charged on Monday the Iraq war may end up costing Americans $1 trillion and further strain the economy, as she made her case for a prompt U.S. troop pullout from a war "we cannot win."

This week marks the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, but voters now say the economy is their top issue in the campaign for the November presidential election.

Clinton, the former first lady who is trying to convince voters she has foreign policy gravitas, criticized both her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, and the Republicans' choice, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

She said the war has sapped U.S. military and economic strength, damaged U.S. national security, taken the lives of nearly 4,000 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 has already cost $500 billion.

Clinton said that while Obama insists he will withdraw U.S. 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," Clinton said.

Obama, who routinely scolds Clinton for having voted for a 2002 Senate resolution that authorized 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.

In a potential blow to Clinton's campaign, Florida's Democratic Party said it would not hold a rerun of the state's invalid primary election, leaving a decision on what to do with the state's delegates entirely to the national party.

"Today's announcement brings us no closer to counting the votes of the nearly 1.7 million people who voted in January. We hope the Obama campaign shares our belief that Florida's voters must be counted and cannot be disenfranchised," Clinton spokesperson Phil Singer said.

Clinton has called for seating the delegates from invalid contests in Florida and Michigan or staging the primaries again. Clinton won both contests, but the national party had already decided to punish the states for holding their contests early by refusing to seat their delegates.

The Obama campaign said it hopes that all parties can agree on a fair resolution so Florida delegates can participate in the Democratic National Convention.