Clinton, Obama skirmish over Iraq

By Andy Sullivan

ALIQUIPPA, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Wednesday attacked her rivals over Iraq, saying Democrat Barack Obama is all talk when it comes to ending the war and Republican John McCain would keep it going.

New York Sen. Clinton and Illinois Sen. Obama traded barbs in Pennsylvania, whose April 22 vote is the next milepost in a long campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination to determine who will face McCain in the November election.

Polls showed a tightening picture in the state with Obama making a move against Clinton's former big lead.

The rivals spoke a day after testimony to the U.S. Congress from the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, whose remarks left no doubt that more than 100,000 troops will still be in Iraq next January when the successor to President George W. Bush takes office.

Petraeus' testimony allowed Clinton, Obama and McCain to push their competing positions on the Iraq war, which remains unpopular with U.S. voters. The Democrats say it is time to end the war while Arizona Sen. McCain said the current strategy is working.

"It's long and it's hard and it's tough. We are frustrated," he said at a campaign event in Westport, Conn., adding the war had been mismanaged by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "This new strategy is succeeding, although it's very difficult," McCain said.

Speaking at a town hall meeting, Clinton questioned whether Obama was committed to pulling out U.S. troops as he says he would do. She also said McCain has no interest in ending the war.

"That's the choice. One candidate will continue the war and keep troops in Iraq indefinitely, one candidate only says he'll end the war," Clinton said at a high school in a Pittsburgh suburb.