War stalks front in Iowa

Clinton, Obama say its time to end costly Iraq conflict

M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 11, 2007 at midnight

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DES MOINES, Iowa - There are multiple fronts in the Iraq war, and on Tuesday one of the hottest battlefields was in downtown Des Moines.

While the conflict overseas drags on and Congress renews a showdown with the White House over war strategy, the two leading Democratic presidential contenders waged a rhetorical skirmish here, giving dueling speeches about how to bring the troops home.

Just a short distance and less than 30 minutes apart, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois both told Iowa audiences that it's time to bring U.S. soldiers home from Iraq.

But they demonstrated a disagreement about who is best qualified to end the American entanglement in Iraq and showed that, even within Democratic ranks, the war is proving to be one of the most divisive issues.

Clinton, the national front-runner, aimed her barbs at President Bush.

"Our message to the president is clear," she told a few hundred people at The Temple for Performing Arts. "It's time to begin ending this war. Not next year. Not next month. But today."

Clinton said, "America needs a president with the strength and experience to end this war. I will be that president."

War's costs cited

But just a few blocks away at almost the same time, Obama used a speech originally intended to focus on economic issues to highlight the financial costs of the conflict that "should have never been authorized and should have never been waged," according to an audio recording provided by RadioIowa.

Obama gave the crowd estimates of what might otherwise have been purchased with the estimated $756 million share of Iraq war costs paid by the Des Moines-area 3rd Congressional district. For example, he said that money could have provided health care for 238,000 people, built 89 elementary schools, hired 17,000 teachers or 18,000 public safety officers.

"We can't do everything that needs to be done as long as we continue this folly in Iraq," Obama said.

Obama said he opposed the war during his U.S. Senate campaign, even when that put him out on a limb, politically.

"I believed then, and I still believe, that being a leader means that you'd better do what's right and leave the politics aside, because there are no do-overs on an issue as important as war," Obama said.

"There are no do-overs for the families who have borne the burden."

In numerous recent appearances like Tuesday's, Obama has contrasted his early statements opposing the war to Clinton, who voted for a 2002 resolution giving Bush the original authority to confront former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

At her appearance in Des Moines on Tuesday, Clinton got a roaring, standing ovation when she called for Congress to pass a resolution revoking that war authority. She said the next president will inherit "some of the greatest foreign policy challenges in our history," and called for stepped-up diplomacy, even with U.S. adversaries like Iran and Syria, to help bring stability to the region.

She drew laughs accusing Bush of having a "fundamentally flawed" diplomatic strategy: "We don't talk to bad people."

"Even during the Cold War, we never stopped talking to the Soviet Union . . . even when their leaders threatened to 'bury' us."

Bush asks for patience

Clinton and Obama brought their anti-war messages to Iowa just before the U.S. Senate renewed the debate over Iraq policy while considering a massive Department of Defense authorization bill.

On Capitol Hill, even congressional Republicans are growing restless over the war that has claimed the lives of 3,598 U.S. troops and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians.

On Tuesday, Bush used a televised speech in Cleveland to ask congressional leaders to hold their fire until after the Iraq commander, Gen. David Petraeus, gives a full progress report in September.

But on Capitol Hill, there is mounting pressure for lawmakers to take action.

On Tuesday, former Sen. John Edwards, who leads the Democratic presidential polls in the first caucus state of Iowa, issued a pointed challenge to his rivals now serving in the U.S. Senate: Clinton, Obama, Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.

"It is more important than ever for people all across the country to let Congress know that we expect them to act decisively to end the war in Iraq," Edwards said in a release. "Congress should no longer facilitate the president's stubborn allegiance to his failed strategy. It's not enough to talk a good game anymore. It is time to act."

Sprengelmeyerm@SHNS.com or 515-244-2396

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