Republicans reserve right of attack in Pakistan

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Top Republican 2008 White House hopefuls yesterday reserved the right to launch US strikes against Al-Qaeda in Pakistan, and insisted on victory in Iraq, in a feisty fourth televised debate.

Accusing Democrats of weakness in the war on terror, some in the field also subtly distanced themselves from Republican President George W. Bush, as the race hit a new level of intensity five months before first nominating contests.

Rivals Mitt Romney and New York's ex-mayor Rudolph Giuliani declined in the debate in Des Moines, Iowa, to rule out an incursion into remote tribal areas in Pakistan where, according to US intelligence estimates, Al-Qaeda fighters are holed up.

"I would take that action if I thought there was no other way to crush Al-Qaeda, no other way to crush the Taliban, and no other way to be able to capture bin Laden," said former New York mayor Giuliani.

But Giuliani, who leads nationwide Republican polls, said he hoped to get results by exerting more pressure on Islamabad to crack down on Al-Qaeda and the Taliban close to the Afghan border.

"I think Pakistan has, unfortunately, not been making the efforts that they should be making," Giuliani said in the debate televised by ABC.

Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, who leads in several key early voting states, said Washington was right to bolster Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and should retain military options but keep them "quiet."

Democratic candidate Senator Barack Obama came under fire, after saying last week he would be ready to send troops to Pakistani tribal areas in search of Osama bin Laden.

"It's wrong for a person running for the president of the United States to get on TV and say, 'We're going to go into your country unilaterally'" said Romney, and also criticized Obama's professed willingness to talk to leaders of US foes Iran and North Korea.

"He's gone from Jane Fonda to Dr. Strangelove in one week," he said, referring to the anti-war activist and Hollywood star, and the mad scientist in the 1964 satirical movie about nuclear warfare.