Democrats criticize Iraq in 1st debate - Yahoo! News

Democrats criticize Iraq in 1st debate - Yahoo! News: "Democrats criticize Iraq in 1st debate " By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer 6 minutes ago ORANGEBURG, S.C. - Democratic presidential candidates criticized President Bush over the Iraq war Thursday night in the first debate of their campaign, and urged him to reconsider his threat to veto legislation to begin withdrawing U.S. troops. "If this president does not get us out of Iraq, when I am president, I will," said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. In the debate's opening moments, Clinton also found herself on the receiving end of criticism, when former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said she or anyone else who voted to authorize it should "search their conscience." Edwards, in the Senate at the time, also cast his vote for the invasion, but he has since apologized for it. Of eight contenders on the debate stage at South Carolina State University, four voted earlier in the day when the Senate completed congressional action on legislation that requires the beginning of a troop withdrawal from Iraq by Oct. 1. The legislation sets a goal of a complete withdrawal of April 1, 2008. "We are one signature away from ending this war," said Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record), D-Ill. He said if Bush won't change his mind, Democrats need to work on rounding up enough Republican votes to override his veto. In addition to Clinton and Obama, Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware and Chris Dodd of Connecticut also cast votes earlier in the day in favor of the legislation.