Presidential candidates posture over Iraq
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Hillary Clinton, back in Congress for hearings on Iraq, pushed competing positions on the war on Tuesday in a bit of political theater that reflected a divide that may define the race for the White House.
Speaking at a hearing with Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Republican McCain said combat forces should stay in the country while Democrat Clinton said troops should begin to withdraw.
Both senators, from Arizona and New York, respectively, repeated well-known positions, but the high-profile setting in the Senate Armed Services Committee made for a closely watched political show.
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, was scheduled to face Petraeus later at a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Clinton, who has been criticized by Obama for her vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq, has promised to begin drawing down troops within 60 days of her becoming president.
"I think it's time to begin an orderly process of withdrawing our troops, start rebuilding our military and focusing on the challenges posed by Afghanistan, the global terrorist groups and other problems that confront Americans," she told the hearing.
McCain, who has locked up the Republican nomination for the November election to succeed President George W. Bush, warned that a withdrawal could require U.S. troops to return in a broader war.
"We're no longer staring into the abyss of defeat and we can now look ahead to the genuine prospect of success," he said.
BACK ON CENTER STAGE
The war in Iraq has largely taken a backseat on the campaign trail to worries about the softening U.S. economy, but the general's testimony put it back on center stage this week where it is likely to be during the upcoming general election.
While McCain and Clinton stuck to substantive questions, their supporters contributed to the political show with drilling of their own.
McCain backer Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, pushed Petraeus to spell out the consequences of an withdrawal advocated by many Democrats.
"I have advocated conditions-based reductions, not a timetable," Petraeus responded. "War is not a linear phenomenon; it's a calculus, not arithmetic."
Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, a Democrat who has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate for Clinton, pushed back against suggestions that calling for a timetable for withdrawal was defeatist.
"As I acknowledge your honor and patriotism, I hope you would acknowledge the honor and patriotism of those who look at this very complex set of facts and simply have a very different point of view," Bayh told the general.
Petraeus responded: "Senator, we fight for the right of people to have other opinions."
(additional reporting by Andy Sullivan and David Storey; editing by David Wiessler)
