Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani says Democratic front-runner Senator Hillary Clinton has not stated clear goals for dealing with the Iraq War and Iran's nuclear ambitions. The Clinton campaign disputed the accusation.
Based on Clinton's answers in recent debates, Giuliani said during a town hall meeting on Saturday that he cannot figure out her position on Iran.
"We're dealing with a level of ambiguity that I don't believe is a good sign in a would-be commander in chief in a time of war," said Giuliani, the former New York mayor who has positioned himself as the one Republican able to thwart another Clinton presidency.
In a debate late last month, Clinton refused to say whether she would pull all US troops out of Iraq by 2013, what would be the end of her first presidential term.
"It is very difficult to know what we're going to be inheriting," she said.
She also ducked a question about whether Israel had the right to bomb Iran if Tehran posed a nuclear threat. She called the question a "hypothetical," and said, "That's better not addressed at this time."
Giuliani said he has made it clear that he would not allow Iran to become a nuclear power and would not rule out military action to stop that from happening. He said the US must win the war in Iraq so that country "will act as an ally for us in the Islamic terrorist war against us."
"If you listen to Democrats and some people in the press, the whole reason we're in Iraq is to figure out how to withdraw," he said. "That's all they talk about. I don't know if they realize how counterproductive that is. I don't know if they realize how strategically irresponsible that is."
A Clinton spokesman said Clinton and Giuliani "fundamentally disagree" on this issue.
"Senator Clinton wants to end the war and bring our troops home," Howard Wolfson said in a written statement. "Mayor Giuliani wants to continue [US President] George Bush's war in Iraq with no end in sight."
Wolfson added that Clinton has taken the position that Iran must not be allowed to build or acquire nuclear weapons.
Three months before voting begins, polls show Clinton solidifying her advantage for the Democratic nomination while the Republican race remains fluid. Giuliani leads in national surveys, but Republican rivals Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor, actor-politician Fred Thompson, a former senator, and Senator John McCain are in strong contention in various key states.
Also on Saturday, another strong Democratic contender, Senator Barack Obama said at a campaign appearance in South Carolina that private security contractors in Iraq are raising the risk for US troops because Iraqis do not distinguish between the forces.
He also criticized the pay disparity between soldiers and private contractors, saying the contractors get paid nine times as much as those in uniform.
"You've got young men and women signing up to serve, willing to spill blood for America. How could they be treated less well than private contractors?" Obama told a crowd of more than 1,400 in Aiken.
"And these private contractors, they go out and they're spraying bullets and hitting civilians and that makes it more dangerous for our troops," Obama said.
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