After feud, Clinton gets Pentagon briefing on Iraq

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday finally got the Pentagon briefing on how the military is planning to withdraw troops from Iraq -- and said much more work needs to be done.

The Democratic presidential front-runner, whose request for information on end-of-war planning was rebuffed two weeks ago by Undersecretary Eric Edelman, received a classified briefing from Edelman.

Clinton would not discuss what Edelman told her and other members of the Senate Armed Services Committee behind closed doors, but she said she expected more to come from the Pentagon and the Bush administration.

"I don't think that by any means answers the questions," said Clinton, D-N.Y., who has been seeking such a briefing for two months.

She and Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., announced proposed legislation seeking specific answers on how the Pentagon is planning to remove troops and equipment from Iraq whenever the U.S. decides to draw down its military presence there.

To pull out of Iraq, Clinton contended that besides soldiers and tanks, plenty of other logistical issues must be resolved, such as U.S. contract workers and refugees.

Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, argued that the Bush administration's lack of planning for the occupation of Iraq shows Congress needs to be involved in planning the withdrawal.

"The Pentagon ought to be planning to save lives, not save face," Kerry said.

Clinton first raised the issue in May, but it became a political fight after Edelman wrote to her that such discussions of withdrawal planning reinforced enemy propaganda.

The senator called that an outrageous attack on her patriotism, and Edelman's boss, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, sent her a conciliatory letter hoping to calm the conflict.