Clinton, Obama quarrel anew over foreign meetings

By Lisa Richwine and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton's campaign on Saturday accused Barack Obama of waffling on his stance that he would meet with leaders of countries hostile to the United States, as the top two Democratic U.S. presidential contenders kept up their nearly week-long verbal joust.

In a call to reporters on behalf of Clinton's campaign, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack accused Obama of saying both that he would meet the leaders of Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba and Venezuela without preconditions and that certain conditions would have to be in place for such meetings.

The sharpest dispute in the Democratic presidential race for the 2008 election began at a CNN/YouTube debate last Monday when Obama, a first-term U.S. senator from Illinois, said he would be willing to meet leaders of the five countries without preconditions in his first year as president.

The Clinton campaign said Obama appeared to change his position when in an interview published on Thursday he said he would be willing to meet Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez but only "under certain conditions."

"Under certain conditions, I always believe in talking," Obama told the Miami Herald. "Sometimes it's more important to talk to your enemies than to your friends."

Clinton, a two-term U.S. senator from New York and former first lady, has contended that any meetings with the leaders should be preceded by lower-level diplomacy to make sure there is a reason for the leaders to meet.

"I would hope that the senator would clarify his comments as to whether or not he is for preconditions," Vilsack said of Obama.

The Obama campaign rejected the criticism, saying Obama has been consistent throughout.