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[h=4]Terrorism at forefront of Democratic debate[/h]In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, Clinton was forced Saturday to defend her record in the Obama administration and as an original supporter of the Iraq war.
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The second primary Democratic debate focused on national security and terrorism, following the attacks in Paris. Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley also argued over border and gun control, the military and immigration. VPC
Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley take part in the Democratic presidential debate at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Nov. 14, 2015.(Photo: Rodney White, The Des Moines Register)
In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, former secretary of State Hillary Clinton was forced Saturday to defend her record in the Obama administration and as an original supporter of the Iraq War.
Standing between her two opponents for the Democratic presidential nomination during the party’s second debate, Clinton said the United States is not responsible for the latest spate of terrorist attacks but must “bring people together” to defeat the Islamic State.
All three candidates — Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley — stressed the need to take the fight to Islamic jihadists in a rallying cry that made them sound more like the larger number of Republicans vying for the White House.
“It cannot be contained. It must be defeated,” Clinton said of the terrorist threat. She promised to outline a plan to work with European and Middle East allies against “the scourge of terrorism” because “all the other issues we want to deal with depend on our being secure and strong.”
At the same time, Clinton said, “I don’t think we’re at war with Islam. I don’t think we’re at war with all Muslims. I think we’re at war with jihadists.”
ONPOLITICS
Democratic candidates address Paris attacks at outset of debate
The Paris attacks dominated the early part of the Democratic debate in Iowa, where voters will kick off the 2016 voting in February.
Although Sanders and O’Malley have taken stands more dovish than Clinton in the past, they jumped at the opportunity to point out her support for President Obama’s cautious approach in Syria and elsewhere, as well as her 2003 vote for the war in Iraq.
“The disastrous invasion of Iraq ... has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of al-Qaeda and ISIS,” Sanders said. “The invasion of Iraq led to the massive instability we are seeing right now.”
But like Clinton, Sanders said the United States can’t dominate the battle. Middle East allies, he said. “are going to have to get their hands dirty, their boots on the ground. They’re going to have to take on ISIS.”
O’Malley said the growth of terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks has been caused by a lack of “human intelligence” on the ground. As a result, he said, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria are all “a mess.”
While the Paris attacks dominated the first part of the debate, the candidates also quarreled over wages and Wall Street, immigration and education, health care, guns and race.
Both Sanders and O’Malley criticized Clinton for her close ties to Wall Street, which she defended in part because of the 9/11 attacks on lower Manhattan when she was a senator from New York.
O’Malley called her “the candidate of Wall Street.” As a result, Sanders said, the big banks “expect to get something.”
ONPOLITICS
Clinton, Sanders, O'Malley clash over Wall Street
At times, the candidates’ differences paled compared to what they said were their beef with Republicans — particularly front-runner Donald Trump.
O’Malley called Trump a “carnival barker” in calling for undocumented immigrants to be deported. “Our symbol is the Statue of Liberty. It’s not a barbed-wire fence,” he said.
Clinton said Sanders’ plan to have the federal and state governments pay for free college for all is wrong because “I don’t think taxpayers should be paying to send Donald Trump’s kids to college.”
Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server as secretary of State resurfaced, but once again Sanders refused to criticize her for it. “I am still sick and tired of Hillary Clinton’s e-mails,” he said. “We’ve gotten off of Hillary’s e-mails. Good. Let’s go to the major issues facing America.”
ONPOLITICS
Bernie Sanders is 'still sick and tired' of Clinton's emails
The attacks on terrorism put in bright contrast what is probably the biggest remaining difference between Clinton and Sanders — her advocacy for a more muscular approach to using the military to combat terrorism.
The debate created a challenge for Clinton, magnifying her public split with Obama on his approach to Syria. Several weeks ago, she was critical of Obama by saying there should be a no-fly zone and humanitarian corridors in Syria, something Obama has rejected.
Clinton has long advocated a more robust approach in the Middle East to thwart the Islamic State, including when she was a member of Obama’s administration. As a U.S. senator she voted to authorize the war in Iraq, though she has since called that decision a mistake.
Though Sanders voted for the war in Afghanistan, he opposed Iraq and has highlighted that difference with Clinton. Sanders, who believes the Islamic State must be defeated primarily by Muslim nations in the region, opposed Obama’s recent decision to put Special Operations boots on the ground in Syria while a Clinton spokesman said she “sees merit” in the approach.
For Clinton, the debate provided an opportunity to address Republicans who question her accomplishments as secretary of State.
Beyond Saturday’s debate, the attacks are likely to change the focus of the Democratic primary, which has heavily concentrated on economic and domestic issues including income inequality, student debt and guns.
As the Democrats debated, Republican presidential candidates also moved quickly this weekend to put national security at the top of their campaign agendas. From social media to radio and television interviews to speeches at a forum of Florida Republicans, GOP candidates used the Paris attacks to assail Obama and Clinton, as well as the nation’s immigration and refugee policies.
USA TODAY
GOP 2016 candidates: Paris attacks sharpen national security issue
“If I were one of the leaders of the global jihadist movement, and I didn’t infiltrate that group of people with my people, that would be almost malpractice,” retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson told reporters shortly after the attacks.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said that, in light of Paris, “we must increase our efforts at home and abroad to improve our defenses, destroy terrorist networks, and deprive them of the space from which to operate.”
Another Floridian, ex-governor Jeb Bush, told radio host Hugh Hewitt that “this is the war of our time, and we have to be serious in engaging and creating a strategy to confront it and take it out.”
The Republicans said Obama lacks a strategy for fighting the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks that killed at least 129 people. They also questioned plans to allow refugees from war-torn Syria refugees into the U.S., saying Islamic State terrorists might try to sneak into the country that way.
Obama, who conducted a meeting of his National Security Council on Saturday, said after the attacks that the United States is working with France and other allies “to bring these terrorists to justice and to go after any terrorist networks that go after our people.”
Those attacks and national security could become big 2016 issues, analysts said, especially if there are major follow-ups in other cities — or in the United States itself. “Fear is the biggest driver in politics,” said Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida.
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