Potential 2008 Candidates Campaign in N.H.

[cal04]

Preventing civil war in Iraq will require America's political influence, not just its military force, Retired Army Gen.
Wesley Clark said Saturday ahead of the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion.

Clark, who sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2004, was among three potential 2008 candidates in New Hampshire on Saturday. He said nothing about his own plans, but said he was campaigning to get more Democrats elected to Congress this year.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, started a three-day tour of the state, and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, was finishing up a two-day swing. Clark said the United States should push Shiite Muslims to include Sunnis in the government and to ensure the country's oil wealth is shared by all. He predicted a long struggle that could spread elsewhere in the Middle East if diplomacy fails.

"This is the decisive moment in Iraq," the retired general told a crowd of about 200 people at New England College. "It is a political problem primarily, not a military one." Clark opposed setting a pullout date for American military forces. If U.S. troops pulled out while Iraq is still unstable, "I do think the likelihood is we'll have deeper conflict, and it will become regional in scale," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060318/ap_on_el_pr/iraq2008_hopefuls_1