Giuliani Open to Sending More Troops to Iraq

ABC News’ Teddy Davis Reports: A liberal coalition of groups opposing the Iraq war — Americans Against Escalation in Iraq — attacked former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Friday for being open to sending more U.S. troops to Iraq.

Earlier this week, Giuliani told Bloomberg News that he would consider sending more U.S. troops to Iraq if Gen. David Petraeus were to come to him and say "we can win this thing, but it’s going to take more U.S. troops."

"Of course I’d look at that, and I’d consider that," said Giuliani. "What do we have General Petraeus there for?"

Asked about the potential resistance that such an idea might face, Giuliani stressed that leadership sometimes involves making unpopular decisions.

"Hey, you know," said Giuliani, "leadership is about sometimes doing the things you know are right, and then it’s your job to educate the public, as opposed to just, you know, taking a CNN poll or a Bloomberg poll or a Fox poll and let that run the country…"

"Rudy Giuliani wants to be president of the United States," said Moira Mack, the spokeswoman for Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, "but he is completely wrong about Iraq and completely out of touch with the American people."

The Giuliani campaign responded to the criticism by noting that the former New York mayor stipulated in his interview that in order to support sending more U.S. troops to Iraq he would want to hear Petraeus say that "we’ve had success" and that the strategy "is working."

The Giuliani video can be viewed here: