Clinton: Congress will compromise on Iraq

The U.S. Congress will have to compromise with President Bush on Iraq war funding, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) told Jewish Democrats. Speaking Wednesday at a National Jewish Democratic Council candidates’ forum, Clinton said the Democratic-led Congress would pass bills this week that would tie Iraq funding to timetables for a troop withdrawal, but that if Bush vetoed the bills as expected, Democrats would have to consider compromise. “At some point we don’t want Democrats being blamed for our troops not being well equipped, not having the resources they would need even though we don’t want them to be there,” Clinton said, adding that she believed Bush would leave office with a substantial number of U.S. troops still in Iraq. Recent Gallup Polls have shown that three-quarters of U.S. Jews believe the war was a mistake. All of the candidates at the NJDC forum backed a troop withdrawal.