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Romney Slams Clinton, Reid On Iraq

(CBS)
From CBS News' Scott Conroy:

INDIANOLA, IOWA -- It may be just five days before Christmas, but Mitt Romney wasn't feeling very cordial toward congressional Democrats over their past comments on the Iraq war.

"Think of what's happened this year. General Petraeus came in to report to Congress and Hillary Clinton said she couldn't believe him," Romney said.

"She said she just couldn't believe General Petraeus. Now think about that. He's been proven to be right. He should be on the cover by the way of Time magazine and not Putin."

With his son Josh by his side, Romney spoke to a small early morning crowd of about 50 people at a town hall in Indianola, Iowa.

Romney did not confine his criticism of congressional Democrats to just Senator Clinton.

"Then you had Harry Reid, who got up and said we lost the war in Iraq," Romney continued. "Can you imagine? We have troops in harm's way who are fighting to defend us and our liberty, and he stands up and says we've lost in Iraq. Did he forget that we knocked down Saddam Hussein and his military? Did he forget that we have troops fighting in this surge to help replace the threat of al Qaeda there with a stronger and more stable government and that it's working?"

Romney then went on to make what has become an obligatory campaign stop criticism of Iowa GOP frontrunner Mike Huckabee over the former Arkansas governor's characterization of the Bush administration as having an "arrogant bunker mentality."

Romney has stepped up his rhetoric in support of the President Bush's foreign policy in recent days, saying that even though the president has made mistakes in Iraq, he should be commended for keeping Americans safe.

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