Exclusive Interview With Sen. Hillary Clinton

And a lot of people in the African-American community, including the third-highest ranking member of the House, Jim Clyburn, say that, if you overturn the will of the pledged delegates, it is going to cause an irreparable breach with the African-American community.

Isn't that a problem?

CLINTON: Well, first of all, I think both Sen. Obama and I have made it very clear that we will have a unified Democratic Party, going into the fall elections. I have said that I will work my heart out for him...

STEPHANOPOULOS: How is that possible...

CLINTON: Well, but...

STEPHANOPOULOS: ... if you overturn the will of the pledged delegates?

CLINTON: But George, I've said that I would work my heart out for him. He has said he would do the same for me. So we will unify.

There are a number of factors that people look at. We have delegates selected by millions of people in primaries and delegates selected by a few thousand people in caucuses. I'm ahead in the popular vote, if you include Florida and Michigan.

STEPHANOPOULOS: He wasn't on the ballot in Michigan.

CLINTON: Well, that was his choice. And his campaign and the other campaigns...

STEPHANOPOULOS: It was the rules of the DNC, though.

CLINTON: Well, but the rules said we shouldn't campaign. But there was nothing saying take your name off the ballot, and there was nothing saying that, eventually, we wouldn't give the voters, 2.3 million of them, in Florida and Michigan, 2.3 million of them, a chance to participate in the process.

The so-called automatic delegates -- they have to make up their minds based on who they think would be the best president and the best candidate to go up against John McCain. That is the process.

So we're going to go through the next contest. And obviously, we're looking forward to Indiana and North Carolina. And then, when the process finishes in early June, people can look at all of the various factors and decide who would be the strongest candidate.

But I think there will be no doubt that, however this turns out, we're going to have a very strong campaign in the fall.

And I've often said that people who support me -- and they support me passionately -- and people who support Sen. Obama and support him passionately -- they have much more in common than they do with Sen/ McCain and the Republicans.

STEPHANOPOULOS: We're going to take...

CLINTON: And that is something we want to drive home to every single person who cares about really taking our country back.

STEPHANOPOULOS: We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back with more with Sen. Hillary Clinton here in Indianapolis.

CLINTON: I think that since we now know Sen. McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. And i think it's imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander in chief threshold. And I believe that I've done that. Certainly Sen. McCain has done that, and you'll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy.

(break)

STEPHANOPOULOS: We are back with Sen. Clinton. And Senator, a lot of Democrats hear that and think all you're doing is helping John McCain in November.

CLINTON: Well, there is no doubt in my mind that we're going to be able to go toe to toe with Sen. McCain, on not only national security, but on the economy. But what I've been offering is my experience, and having served on the Senate Armed Services Committee for five years, I feel very comfortable taking him on. And I think that is a factor for voters to consider.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But if you concede that Sen. McCain is qualified and you're qualified...

CLINTON: Once we get into...

STEPHANOPOULOS: : ... why can't you say the same about Sen. Obama?

CLINTON: No, I didn't -- that's not what I said. What I said was that he would offer his experience, and we know that he will offer his experience.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But you said he's crossed the bar, though.

CLINTON: Well, people will assume that, because he's served in the military, he's served with distinction, he was a POW. He will offer that experience. And I think that we have to have a Democratic nominee who can stand on that debate stage and go toe to toe with Sen. McCain on national security. There is no doubt in my mind that he is going to run primarily a national-security campaign again.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Is Sen. Obama qualified to be commander in chief?

CLINTON: Of course. I've said that he's qualified to be president on numerous occasions. The question is, how are voters going to determine who they vote for? You know, because that's going to be the real issue in the fall. And this is not in any way a comment about him. It's a comment about me. I feel like I am going to be able to stand up to Sen. McCain, and I know him well, and you know, standing up to him is challenging. And I think we're going to be able to do that.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's go to another voter question. Sharon Mahalick [phonetic spelling] is here. She is an independent and she's undecided. Your question on national security.

VOTER: Good morning.

CLINTON: Good morning.

VOTER: Sen. Clinton, as president, your plan is to remove the troops from Iraq fairly quickly. If Iran then invades Iraq, what would your plan of action be?

CLINTON: Well, let me answer that, because I think that this whole question about what we're going to do with Iraq will be in the centerpiece of the campaign in the fall, because Sen. McCain, as you know, has said that it would be fine with him to leave troops there for up to 100 years. And he feels very strongly about that position, which he will convey with great passion and conviction.

I feel equally strongly that our troops have done everything they were asked to do. They got rid of Saddam Hussein. They gave the Iraqis free and fair elections, and they gave the Iraqi government the opportunity to do what it had to do to make the tough decisions about a responsible future going forward.

There is no military solution to our troops staying in Iraq. They could be there for years if the Iraqis do not decide that they must take responsibility.

So, when I am president, I will ask the secretary of defense and the joint chiefs of staff and my security advisers to draw up a plan that I can use to begin to withdraw our troops within 60 days. I know how difficult and dangerous this will be. I have no illusions about that. But if we stay there and the Iraqis think they still have a blank check from us, they will never resolve their unfinished problems. They can't even decide how to allocate the oil revenues, which they've been saying they'll do for five years. So we will begin and we will go forward to withdraw our troops.

I've been endorsed by 35 retired generals and admirals, including the former adjutant general of the Indiana National Guard, who's here today, Gen. George Buskirk.

CLINTON: And when I was endorsed by Gen. Hugh Shelton -- and Gen. Buskirk was with me -- who was a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he said that he was endorsing me because he trusted me to end the war in Iraq with honor.

What will Iran do? I don't think any of us can predict what Iran will do. But here's what I believe. I believe that if the Iraqis have to make their own decisions, that the Iraqis will be much more nationalistic in defending their own country against Iran, which has a different social makeup...

STEPHANOPOULOS: But what would you do?

CLINTON: ... a different kind of culture. And I think that will give the Iraqis an organizing focus that they currently don't have.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But what would you do -- I think that's what the question was -- if Iran went into Iraq?

CLINTON: You know, I do not believe Iran will go into Iraq. If Iran were to go into Iraq, there would have to be a determination made at that time. But it is something that I am not anticipating, and we are not going to have permanent bases and permanently occupy Iraq because of some contingent that may or may not happen.

Because it's not only what is not occurring in Iraq that bothers me, it is our failure to deal with all of our other problems. You know, Afghanistan is on the brink of basically being taken back over in large measure by the Taliban and Al Qaida. That's what our attention should be focused on.

And with respect to Iran, I have advocated vigorous diplomatic engagement. You see, we don't even really understand exactly how decisions are made in Iran, because we have been so isolated from Iran. They have an elected leadership with Ahmadinejad, who's all over the TV, but I believe most decisions are made by the clerical leadership, the Supreme Leader, that actually is responsible for the Revolutionary Guard.

And we need to have a very intense diplomatic engagement with Iran, and I've advocated that for several years, in order for us to try to manage whatever they might do.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But a lot of our experts look at Iran and they say there is a mass of Iranian people who want to be allied with the United States, want a democracy, and when they heard you say that if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons, we would obliterate Iran, they say that undermines -- experts say that undermines exactly the kind of people we want to be encouraging in Iran.

CLINTON: Well, the experts I consult with don't say that, George. Because here's what we're trying to convey. No. 1, we have to do everything possible to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And I will do that. It would be destabilizing and dangerous for the world if Iran were nuclear weaponized.

No. 2, because of this split leadership and because of discontent among the people, we want to create some upward pressure that sends a very clear signal to the Supreme Leader and to Ahmadinejad and others, that going forward on nuclear weapons is not a free choice for Iran. And the very idea that they would translate into action some of the most outlandish comments that have been made by some of the Iranian leaders, and even contemplate wiping Israel off the face of the world, means that we've got to make it clear to them that will not go without massive retaliation.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You've also said we should extend our nuclear deterrent, including that threat of massive retaliation, to other countries in the region -- to Saudi Arabia, to Kuwait, to the UAE. And wouldn't that end up requiring a permanent U.S. presence in the Middle East that is even more extensive, would rival what we now have in Iraq?

CLINTON: But George, we have a permanent set of bases. We are in Kuwait, we're in Bahrain. We have our troops on the ground in other countries. Turkey is a NATO ally. We have a presence that predates our involvement in Iraq. And the reason we've been there all these years is to serve as a buffer, to serve as a check and balance on the originally designs of Saddam Hussein and on the potential threats from Iran.

But what I have said...

No, but what I've said is that if Iran continues to try to pursue a nuclear weapon, if you're sitting in one of the other capitals in the Gulf region and in the wider Middle East, you're not going to let Iran get that nuclear weapon. You're going to have your own nuclear weapons race.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But the implications of that policy, as it was during the Cold War, when we said an attack on Paris is like an attack on New York, is that an attack on Riyadh is the same as an attack on Indianapolis? Is that wise policy?

CLINTON: Well, George, you know, I go back and look at what we did during the Cold War. I remember it very well, because I'm old enough to have been told to get under my desk in case we were attacked by the Soviet Union. I never understood what that was about, but we all did it, remember? And we had a Cold War where each of us, the Soviet Union and the United States, had missiles on hair trigger alert, aimed at the cities in our respective countries. And we deterred the nuclear conflagration that could have occurred by having tough diplomacy, by having presidents who really stood their ground, who said, "don't you dare think about this," and we will...