Democratic Candidates Call For End To Iraq War

The calls were made on April 26 during the candidates' first live television debate ahead of the November 2008 election.

The candidates, among them leading contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, called for U.S. troops to leave Iraq, but disagreed on the best way to accomplish this.

Clinton, a U.S. senator from New York, said, "And I can only end by saying that, if this president [Bush] does not get us out of Iraq, when I'm president, I will."

Clinton, who leads the national polls in the Democratic race, refused, however, to apologize for her 2002 Senate vote authorizing the Iraq war or to call her vote a mistake.

The debate was held in the state of South Carolina, which will hold the southern United States' first nominating vote in January.

(compiled from agency reports)