Trump argues stridently about his stance on the invasion of Iraq; Clinton defends her record
The questioning in the first presidential debate moves to terrorism, ISIS and homegrown attacks.
Hillary Clinton noted that Donald Trump supported the invasion of Iraq, with Trump echoing, “wrong, wrong, wrong.” He added later, “that is mainstream media nonsense.”
Trump said ISIS rose because of a vaccum created when U.S. troops exited Iraq; Clinton noted that the exit strategy was laid out by former President George W. Bush.
Trump added that, “Had we taken the oil, ISIS would not have been able to form either.”
Clinton said Americans and their allies need to do “everything possible to disrupt their network,” including cyber networks. “We need to do more with our tech companies,” she said.
Trump said NATO should be more aggressive in combatting terror, including going into the Middle East. “We have to knock the hell out of ISIS,” he said, noting Clinton was Secretary of State when ISIS was able to grow from a small movement to being present throughout the region.
Clinton countered that the only time NATO’s “attack on one is an attack on all” article was invoked was after Sept. 11, 2001, and that the treaty organization was a full participant in U.S. action in the Middle East.
On Holt’s urging to move on, Trump noted of his opponent, “I have much better judgment than she does, I also have a much better temperament than she does.” Clinton cites Trump statements ranging from taunting sailors to nuclear weapons and says he has a “cavalier attitude about nuclear weapons.”
Background on the candidates’ views on the war on terror:
Clinton says defeating the Islamic State terror network is a pillar of her national security program, and she’d achieve that goal largely by extending and amplifying policies put in place by President Obama. But she said Americans “should be honest” that ground forces will need to be added to air campaigns to be successful.
Trump says his plan to confront the terror syndicate is to throw out Obama’s strategy because it failed. “We’ve tried it President Obama’s way. Doesn’t work,” Trump said earlier this summer. He’s said he would “knock the hell out of ISIS in some form,” but doesn’t favor the use of ground troops.
Clinton calls for a decrease in military spending, Trump calls for an increase.
Clinton would combine military action, diplomacy and law enforcement with a crackdown on international financing for terrorism, efforts to stem the flow of foreign fighters to and from the Islamic State battlefield and counter radicalization and recruitment online. She also would expand efforts to identify potential terrorist recruits and monitor and interrupt terrorist communications.
Trump’s signature proposal to safeguard the homeland is a temporary ban on most foreign Muslims entering the country. Trump also said he would “suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats.”
The Associated Press and The Washington Post contributed to this report.