Candidates & Iraq on fifth anniversary
The Democratic presidential candidates offered a sharply different take on the Iraq war from that of GOP Sen. John McCain as each candidate observed the war's fifth anniversary Wednesday.
Sen. Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that she would bring U.S. troops home from Iraq if elected president.
1 of 2 "This war has now lasted longer than World War I, World War II or the Civil War," Sen. Barack Obama said in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
"Nearly 4,000 Americans have given their lives. Thousands more have been wounded. Even under the best-case scenario, this war will cost American taxpayers well over a trillion dollars," he added. "And where are we for all this sacrifice? We are less able to shape events abroad."
Obama also used the war's anniversary to question the judgment of Democratic nomination rival Sen. Hillary Clinton and that of presumptive Republican presidential nominee McCain.
Obama said the pair's 2002 vote to authorize President Bush to use force against Saddam Hussein had led to a "security gap" in this country.
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