WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said Sunday she won't vote for any more money to support the four-year-old war in Iraq without a plan to start bringing U.S. troops home.

"I've reached the conclusion that the best way to support our troops is begin bringing them home," the New York senator and former first lady told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."

"I don't believe we should continue to vote for funding that has an open-ended commitment, that has no pressure on the Iraqi government to make the tough political decisions they have to make, or which really gives any urgency to the Bush administration's diplomatic efforts."

Clinton's declaration comes as the Senate debates the Defense Department's 2008 spending authorization bill. It follows her vote against a $120 billion war-spending bill in May, when Congress dropped a call for the withdrawal of American combat troops by March 2008 after President Bush vetoed a bill containing that provision.

"The president has no intention of changing his policy in Iraq," she said. "He's now talking about leaving it to his successor."

Meanwhile, the Senate's Republican minority routinely filibusters Democratic proposals to wind down the war, which is costing the Treasury about $10 billion a month and has claimed the lives of nearly 3,800 American troops.

May's spending bill made continued U.S. support contingent on a set of benchmarks for Iraq's government.

But the Iraqis met only 11 of the 18 benchmarks, according to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

"Even those who are implementing this policy of the president's cannot tell us it will make America more safe, nor that it will lead to the kind of political decision-making that we have to expect from the Iraqis themselves," Clinton said.

Nearly two-thirds of the American public now opposes the war, according to a CNN-Opinion Research poll conducted in early September.

Clinton said, if elected president, she would end the conflict "as quickly and responsibly as I can," but said some U.S. forces would likely remain as trainers, to protect Americans and to battle Islamic militants loyal to al Qaeda.

The two-term senator, who leads her Democratic presidential rivals by a double-digit margin in national polls, made the rounds of all five Washington talk shows Sunday.

Last week, Clinton supported two amendments that would have forced the Pentagon to begin a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

But she said Sunday that even if Democrats muster enough Republican support to break a filibuster -- something they have been unable to do -- Democrats would still be unlikely to get the two-thirds vote needed to override a presidential veto.

"The answer for this is, let's elect more Democrats in 2008," she said. "That will help solve the problem."

  

(CNN) -- As I watched thousands of people gather in Jena, Louisiana, via CNN and CNN.com, tears were streaming down my face.

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It was reminiscent of the Million Man March in 1995, when black men gathered in the nation's capital in a mass show of unity.

As a 38-year-old African-American man, I have no memory of the Civil Rights Movement.

I was born November 14, 1968, and Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated seven months earlier.

His death, in many ways, signaled an end to that long but peaceful resistance against America's systemic and deeply rooted oppression of African-Americans.

It was great seeing so many people exercising their free speech and right to protest, but to also demand a change to what they felt is an unjust legal system.

Many people have commented on what is taking place in Jena, with some suggesting that the six black teens accused of beating a white teen deserve years in prison, while others say they should be freed. Watch Martin talk about the rally and the case »

It is true that Justin Barker, a white teen, was beaten and left unconscious. The disturbing photos clearly show that.

Yet, the question as to whether a school fight -- one that sent Barker to the hospital, only to see him released the same day and attend a party that night -- warranted the teens to be charged with attempted murder.

Folks, that's the primary reason for the outrage that you have seen and heard.

Much of the reporting and commentary on this has been shallow, choosing to see it as a black-white issue, as opposed to the various views of how do you define equal justice in America.

Let's try this exercise for a moment. We can remove all racial tags and ask ourselves some critical questions.

 

  

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Ground movements of American civilians in most of Iraq were on hold Tuesday after an uproar over a Baghdad firefight involving American security firm Blackwater USA.

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Sunday's incident and its aftermath prompted the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to suspend diplomatic convoys outside the Green Zone and throughout the rest of the country.

"This suspension is in effect in order to assess mission security and procedures, as well as a possible increased threat to personnel traveling with security details outside the International Zone," the embassy said in a notice to Americans.

Earlier Tuesday, Iraqi government ministers backed the Iraqi Interior Ministry's decision to shut down Blackwater USA's operations in Iraq.

They also stressed the need to ensure foreign security firms operate within Iraqi laws, according to a statement from spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh.

It is unclear whether the shutdown is permanent, and the Interior Ministry put no time frame on the ban of Blackwater operations.

Al-Dabbagh said the ban will remain in effect while the incident is investigated and there is no intention of revoking Blackwater's license indefinitely. He added, "We do need them to respect the law and the regulation here in Iraq."

The firm has defended itself, saying its employees acted "heroically" and were merely defending themselves after the State Department convoy they were protecting came under fire.

"Blackwater's independent contractors acted lawfully and appropriately in response to a hostile attack in Baghdad on Sunday," said a statement from the Moyock, North Carolina-based company. "Blackwater regrets any loss of life, but this convoy was violently attacked by armed insurgents, not civilians, and our people did their job to defend human life."

The U.S. State Department has called the killings a "terrible incident," and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to offer her regrets.

More than 25,000 employees of private security firms are working in Iraq, guarding reconstruction workers and government officials.

Blackwater said in its statement that the Interior Ministry has taken no official action to revoke its operating license. Iraqi officials say the firm is barred from working in the country. Watch why the Interior Ministry wants to yank Blackwater's license »

"As of now, they are not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq," said Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman. He added that Blackwater would be notified of the ministry's decision soon.

Sunday's gunfight erupted about noon (4 a.m. ET) in Nisoor Square, which straddles the Sunni neighborhoods of Mansour and Yarmouk.

An industry source said Blackwater bodyguards were escorting a State Department group to a meeting with U.S. Agency for International Development officials in Mansour before the shootings. After a car bomb detonated near the meeting venue, the contractors evacuated the officials, the source said.

Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a convoy of sport utility vehicles in the square, and the men in the SUVs returned fire, the Interior Ministry said. The firefight left eight people dead and 14 more wounded, most of them civilians, said an Interior Ministry official.

Blackwater USA Vice President Marty Strong said the convoy was hit with "a large explosive device, then repeated small-arms fire, and to the point where it disabled one of the vehicles and the vehicle had to be towed out of the firefight."

Between eight and 10 people opened fire on the convoy "from multiple nearby locations, with some aggressors dressed in civilian apparel and others in Iraqi police uniforms," according to a State Department report.

The guards tried to escape, but the route was blocked by insurgents who fired machine guns at one of their vehicles, the report states. A U.S. Army force, backed by air cover, arrived 30 minutes later to escort the convoy back to the Green Zone, the report states.

Rice promised a "fair and transparent" investigation of the killings, al-Maliki's office said late Monday.

"Rice assured al-Maliki in this evening's call that the United States will take immediate action to show their determination that such acts will not be repeated," the statement said.

Iraqi authorities have been concerned about private security firms and have complained about shootings by private military contractors -- four of them involving Blackwater, according to a July report from the Congressional Research Service.

Courts in Iraq do not have the authority to bring contractors to trial, the report states.

Government spokesman al-Dabbagh said Tuesday he understands the risks private security companies face, but "an Iraqi law should be implemented on everybody."

"Now [that] Iraq is under a sovereign government, they have the liberty to take any action and any steps against any security company as long as they are not complying with the Iraqi regulations and the Iraqi laws," he said.

A U.S. congressional report estimates that 200 private security guards have been killed on the job.

In one of the more highly publicized incidents, four American Blackwater contractors were mutilated and killed in Falluja in March 2004. Two of their bodies were hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River, setting off two battles to reclaim the city from insurgents.

Sunday's firefight has prompted the U.S. Congress to cast a critical eye on private security firms.

Rep. Henry Waxman, whose House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held hearings on contractor operations in February, said he will hold new hearings on the issue.

"The controversy over Blackwater is an unfortunate demonstration of the perils of excessive reliance on private security contractors," said Waxman, D-California.

Almost $4 billion has been spent on security contracts since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Waxman's committee estimates. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Elise Labott, Barbara Starr, Cal Perry and Suzanne Simons contributed to this report.

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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