August 04, 2007	Saturday	Rajab 19, 1428

NEW YORK, Aug 3: Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has managed to shoot himself in the foot again while trying to upstage front runner Hilary Clinton in the US presidential pre-election nomination bid to to secure nomination of his party.

Following his Tuesday’s speech in which he said that he would send troops into Pakistan to hunt down Al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri in the mountains, he was chastised severely by several American newspapers and columnists and critics in the electronic media.

Bristling under criticism and being called “naive” in the realm of foreign affairs Mr Obama in an interview with a news agency, initially ruled out using nuclear weapons in the region as part of the effort to defeat terrorism and kill or capture Osama. “I think it would be a profound mistake for us to use nuclear weapons in any circumstance,” he said, pausing before he added, “involving civilians.”

But then he quickly said: “Let me scratch that. There’s been no discussion of nuclear weapons. That’s not on the table.”

The New York Times in an article noted “his remarks about removing nuclear weapons as an option in the region drew fresh attacks from Democratic rivals who had already questioned his foreign policy experience.” American officials have generally been deliberately ambiguous about their nuclear strike policies.

Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York declined to say whether she agreed with Mr Obama’s initial statement.

“I'm not going to answer hypotheticals,” Mrs Clinton told reporters.

She added: “I think that presidents should be very careful at all times in discussing the use or non-use of nuclear weapons. Presidents, since the Cold War, have used nuclear deterrence to keep the peace. And I don’t believe that any president should make any blanket statements with respect to the use or non-use of nuclear weapons.”

Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, another Democratic contender, said in a statement: “Over the past several days, Senator Obama’s assertions about foreign and military affairs have been, frankly, confusing and confused. He has made threats he should not make and made unwise categorical statements about military options.”

In an editorial on Thursday the New York Post lambasted Mr Obama for his remarks on Pakistan noting “Pakistan is a fiercely Islamic nation of 170 million, possessing deliverable nuclear weapons and comprising some of the most militarily challenging terrain on the planet” and asked rhetorically “leaving aside the possibility that the Pakistanis might actually use an A-bomb or two against invading US forces, what does Obama propose to do with Pakistan should he happen to capture it?”