VA Loan Updates

Given a choice Monday between focusing on veterans’ health care or what to do next in the Iraq war, Sen. Hillary Clinton chose the former.

In other words, the current Democratic front-runner in the polls played it safe as the first of four major presidential hopefuls to address the 108th annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City.

Like Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who followed her, the senator from New York made her way to the issue of the Iraq war so late in her speech that some wondered whether she would ever get there.

McCain offered a soliloquy on the subject of war in general and did not reach the current conflict until two-thirds of the way into his 22-minute speech.

“War is wretched beyond all description,” he said, but then offered more of it as the only path for America.

“As long as there is a prospect for not losing this war, then we must not choose to lose it!”

In Clinton’s speech, Iraq was not addressed until the last quarter of her longer-than-billed 42 minutes.

Until then it was more money for care of wounded vets. A new GI Bill of Rights. Extending the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover the military.

Clinton advocated all of that and more. She lavished praise on U.S. war heroes during the first three-quarters.

“Veterans have served America,” Clinton said. “Now it is time for America to serve her veterans.”

Clinton acknowledged the disagreement between her and many in the VFW, whose leadership has been outspoken in its advocacy to stay the course in Iraq and allow President Bush’s surge strategy time to work. But she offered up no new solutions or policy directions on the issue.

Nor did she touch a topic that was at the core of Sunday’s Democratic presidential debate in Des Moines, Iowa: whether all troops should be withdrawn from the country, as New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson proposes, or whether some should be left behind, perhaps for years, to fight terrorism and handle other needs, as she and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois recommend.

Speaking generally about the “vigorous debate” that now engages the country, Clinton said: “We may disagree about whether there is or isn’t a military solution to this war. Having been there, having studied it and having seen the heroism and the accomplishments of our troops, I do not believe that we alone can impose a military solution.

“And I do not think the Iraqis are ready to do what they have to do for themselves yet. Therefore, I think it’s unacceptable for our troops to be caught in a crossfire of a sectarian civil war while the Iraqi government is on vacation.”

The time has come, Clinton said, for the Iraqi government to take responsibility “because the American people and our American military cannot want freedom and stability for the Iraqis more than they want it for themselves.”

No good options exist, Clinton said.

“The best way to honor their service is by beginning to bring them home, and when they come home we have everything ready for them.”

The crowd of nearly 6,000 VFW members greeted both warmly before and after their speeches. One veteran, 68-year-old Bob Tanner of VFW Post 4784 in Americus, Ga., praised both candidates, but added that Clinton had skirted the Iraqi war issue.

When the topic turned to McCain’s speech, a stream of tears descended from Tanner’s eyes. “It was the most outstanding speech I ever heard,” he said.

McCain said: “We do share a secret, but it is not a romantic remembrance of war. War is awful. When nations seek to resolve their differences by force of arms, a million tragedies ensue. Nothing, not the valor with which it is fought nor the nobility of the cause it serves, can glorify war.

When he turned to the Iraq war, McCain was more effusive than Clinton about his recommended plan to stay and fight.

Acknowledging the mistakes that have been made, McCain said the country should not react to those miscues by withdrawing, a course of action he called “a mistake of colossal historical proportions.”

Bailing out now would strengthen al-Qaida, empower Iran, unleash a full-scale civil war in Iraq and destabilize the entire region, he said.

“Our defeat in Iraq would be catastrophic, not just for Iraq, but for us, and I cannot be complicit in it,” he said. “I will do whatever I can, whether I am effective or not, to help avert it.”

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