Presidential hopeful Edwards calls for US moral leadership

Presidential hopeful Edwards calls for US moral leadership
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Former senator and Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards slammed proposals for pouring more US troops into Iraq and instead called for the US to become a "stabilizing force" in the world.
In his first lengthy television interview since declaring his candidacy for US president Thursday, Edwards told ABC News that the current conduct of the US war in Iraq was "not working."
In the past, he has backed an immediate draw-down of troops and Sunday he denounced proposals for a spike in troops there, endorsed by likely Republican presidential candidate John McCain and reportedly also by President George W. Bush.
"I actually, myself, believe that this idea of surging troops, escalating the war, what Senator McCain has been talking about ... he and I are friends, but I think he's dead wrong about this," Edwards said.
Speaking on Fox news, fellow Democratic presidential hopeful, outgoing Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, said increasing troop levels in Iraq would "make a big mistake even bigger."
"We've got to put responsibility where it belongs, in the Iraqis," he said, alluding to the sectarian violence between majority Shiite and minority Sunni Muslims.
"I think America has to get out of the middle, and it basically has to require the Iraqis to do what only they can do, which is to determine whether or not they want a stable and secure country."
Edwards called for the United States to take "moral leadership" in the world, citing the bloody conflict in Sudan's Darfur region as an example. But he stopped short of suggesting a US military involvement there.
"Actually, my own view is that putting American troops on the ground in Darfur would probably be a mistake. It would probably do more damage than good," Edwards said, but listed a no-fly zone and sanctions as possible US interventions.
"But the genocide, global poverty, the spread of HIV/ AIDS, the atrocities that are occurring in northern Uganda, there are a whole range of places that America would have basically universal support if we showed some leadership," he said.
Rejecting the criticism that he was promoting "feel-good" policies, Edwards said: "It's much more than that."
"Without America as the central stabilizing force in the world, there is no stability. There's chaos. There's no one else that can do this," he said.
Edwards launched his campaign on Thursday from a flood-ravaged poor neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The multimillionaire trial lawyer was the third Democrat to formally enter the race for his party's nomination for US president in 2008. The two others are Vilsack and US Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.
Several other Democrats -- including US senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton -- also are considering vying for the Democratic nomination. Both have indicated they would make their decisions known in January.
Since losing to Senator John Kerry in the 2004 Democratic primary and then becoming Kerry's running mate in the 2004 presidential elections, Edwards has led a University of North Carolina research center on poverty.
Edwards served only one six-year term in the Senate (1998-2004) and has never held an executive post. He has been globe-hopping over the past two years, meeting with foreign leaders in an effort to beef up his foreign policy credentials.

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