Giuliani: Gaza a 'microcosm' of Iraq

WASHINTGON - Speaking before an audience of supporters at a Jewish temple in Maryland on Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani compared the war in Iraq to the conflict between Hamas and Israel.

''What happened in Gaza is a microcosm of what's going to happen in Baghdad,'' said Giuliani when discussing his objection to a withdrawal of US forces from Iraq. ''It will become something that inflames the entire region.''

Giuliani said that after Israel withdrew its troops Hamas launched a civil war and took control of Gaza. The same, he said, would happen in Iraq.

Addressing the threat of a nuclear Iran Giuliani said he believed in sanctions and negotiations but that if elected, Iran would not become a nuclear power. We made a mistake with Hitler, he said, but I will not make that same mistake with (Iranian President) Ahmadinejad.

Giuliani said that a firmer US stance against Iran would increase the chance of resolving the crisis without resorting to military force. An example of this, he said, was the capture and torture of American hostages in Teheran, which ended in 1981 - one hour after former Republican President Ronald Regan took office.

'Democrats naive when dealing with terror'

Giuliani said Islamic terror began in the 1960's but the first significant attack was the murder of the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. But the Munich murderers were released by the Germans, said Giuliani, adding that this pattern persisted throughout the next two decades in Europe.

Giuliani also accused former President Bill Clinton of not responding forcefully enough to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing or later terrorist attacks.

The former New York mayor criticized Democrats, accusing them of weakness and naiveté in dealing with terrorism.

''Islamic terrorists killed more than 500 Americans before Sept. 11. Many people think the first attack on America was on Sept. 11, 2001. It was not. It was in 1993,'' said the former New York mayor.

Giuliani argued that Clinton treated the World Trade Center bombing as a criminal act instead of a terrorist attack, calling it ''a big mistake'' that emboldened other strikes on the Khobar Towers housing complex in Saudi Arabia, in Kenya and Tanzania and later on the USS Cole while docked in Yemen in 2000.

''The United States government, then President Clinton, did not respond,'' Giuliani said. ''I'm not blaming anybody back then…what I am saying is, I do blame people after Sept. 11. Now you have to get it.''

Giuliani hinted his Democratic opponents were ignoring the obvious threat of terrorism. "I do not doubt

their patriotism, but their judgment," said Giuliani, adding that the words 'Islamic terror' have yet to have been uttered in a Democratic presidential debate.

Democrats, he said, refuse to face reality. "If you can't say those two words then you do not know who your enemy is," he said.

News agencies contributed to this report