Terrorism at forefront of Democrats’ debate

Candidates stress need to take fight to Islamic jihadists

In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, former secretary of State Hillary Clinton was forced Saturday night to defend her record in the Obama administration and as an original supporter of the Iraq war.

Standing between her two opponents for the Democratic presidential nomination during the party’s second debate, Clinton said the United States is not responsible for the latest spate of terrorist attacks but must “bring people together” to defeat the Islamic State.

All three candidates — Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley — stressed the need to take the fight to Islamic jihadists in a rallying cry that made them sound more like the larger number of Republicans vying for the White House.

“It cannot be contained. It must be defeated,” Clinton said of the terrorist threat. She promised to outline a plan to work with European and Middle East allies against “the scourge of terrorism” because “all the other issues we want to deal with depend on our being secure and strong.”

The Paris attacks dominated the early part of the Democratic debate, and although Sanders and O’Malley have taken stands more dovish than Clinton in the past, they jumped at the opportunity to point out her support for President Obama’s go- slow approach against terrorists and her 2003 vote for the war in Iraq.

“The disastrous invasion of Iraq ... has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of al- Qaeda and ISIS,” Sanders said. “The invasion of Iraq led to the massive instability we are seeing right now.”

O’Malley said the growth of terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks has been caused by a lack of “human intelligence” on the ground. As a result, he said, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria are all “a mess.”

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the multiple

“... All the other issues we want to deal with depend on our being secure and strong.”

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton

Paris attacks, which killed at least 129 people.

The attacks put in bright contrast what is probably the biggest remaining difference between Clinton and Sanders — her advocacy for a more muscular approach to using the military to combat terrorism.

The debate created a challenge for Clinton, magnifying her public split with Obama on his approach to Syria. Several weeks ago, she was critical of Obama by saying there should be a no- fly zone and humanitarian corridors in Syria, something Obama has rejected.

Clinton has long advocated a more robust approach in the Middle East to thwart the Islamic State, including when she was a member of Obama’s administration. As a U. S. senator she voted to authorize the war in Iraq, though she has since called that decision a mistake.

Though Sanders voted for the war in Afghanistan, he opposed Iraq and has highlighted that difference with Clinton. Sanders, who believes the Islamic State must be defeated primarily by Muslim nations in the region, opposed Obama’s recent decision to put Special Operations boots on the ground in Syria while a Clinton spokesman said she “sees merit” in the approach.

For Clinton, the debate provided an opportunity to address Republicans who question her accomplishments as secretary of State.

Beyond Saturday’s debate, the attacks are likely to change the focus of the Democratic primary, which has heavily concentrated on economic and domestic issues including income inequality, student debt and guns.

Sanders has struggled to regain his footing after Clinton solidified commanding leads over him in national polls and in Iowa and erased his advantage in New Hampshire.

A shift to national security issues and terrorism plays to her strength as the nation’s former top diplomat and will put Sanders in a potentially uncomfortable position of defending his more hands- off approach to the Middle East. Early reports suggest at least one of the attackers was a young Frenchman with links to terrorism, making clear the Islamic State is taking its campaign to the West.

As the Democrats debated, Republican presidential candidates also moved quickly this weekend to put national security at the top of their campaign agendas.

From social media to radio and television interviews to speeches at a forum of Florida Republicans, GOP candidates used the Paris attacks to assail Obama and Clinton as well as the nation’s immigration and refugee policies.

“If I were one of the leaders of the global jihadist movement, and I didn’t infiltrate that group of people with my people, that would be almost malpractice,” retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson told reporters shortly after the attacks.

Echoing those criticisms, Sen. Ted Cruz told Fox News on Saturday that the Islamic State “plans to bring these acts of terror to America.”

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said that, in light of Paris, “we must increase our efforts at home and abroad to improve our defenses, destroy terrorist networks, and deprive them of the space from which to operate.”

Another Floridian, ex- governor Jeb Bush, told radio host Hugh Hewitt that “this is the war of our time, and we have to be serious in engaging and creating a strategy to confront it and take it out.”

Candidates said Obama lacks a strategy for fighting the Islamic State. They also questioned plans to allow refugees from war- torn Syria refugees into the U. S., saying Islamic State terrorists might try to sneak into the country that way.

Obama, who conducted a meeting of his National Security Council on Saturday, said after the attacks that the United States is working with France and other allies “to bring these terrorists to justice and to go after any terrorist networks that go after our people.”

The Paris attacks and national security could become big 2016 issues, analysts said, especially if there are major follow- ups in other cities — or in the United States itself.

“Fear is the biggest driver in politics,” said Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida. “Right now, people have economic anxiety and personal safety concerns.”

Republicans who stress national security are likely to find a receptive audience. Max Abrahms, a political science professor at Northeastern University, said that, “in general, terrorism tends to move the American electorate to the right.

“The disastrous invasion of Iraq ... has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of al- Qaeda and ISIS.”

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders