Clinton plays defense on Iraq, Wall Street at Democratic debate

Clinton's rivals for the White House, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley, took a more aggressive tone than in their first debate last month. They accused Clinton of being too cozy with Wall Street and taking campaign donations that made her unwilling to stand up to corporate interests.

The day after a series of bomb and gun attacks that killed at least 129 people in Paris, Sanders linked Clinton's U.S. Senate vote authorizing the Iraq invasion to the regional chaos that followed. Sanders called it "one of the worst foreign policy blunders in the modern history of the United States.”

"I would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq, something that I strongly opposed, unraveled the region immensely, and led to the rise of Al Qaeda and to ISIS," said Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont.

"I don't think any sensible person would disagree that the invasion of Iraq led to the massive level of instability we are seeing right now," he said.

Clinton, who has frequently called the Iraq vote a mistake, said it should be placed in the historical context of years of terrorism before the invasion.

"This is an incredibly complicated region of the world. It's become more complicated. And many of the fights that are going on are not ones that the United States has either started or have a role in," she said.

Clinton said countries in the region would have to play a major role in resolving the conflict. "It cannot be an American fight. And I think what the president has consistently said, which I agree with, is that we will support those who take the fight to ISIS," she said.

Clinton struck a sharp contrast to Obama's comments in an interview aired on Friday that ISIS had been contained, saying it "cannot be contained, it must be defeated."

'FILLING THE VACUUM'

She also played up her efforts to find solutions in the region, noting she had pushed for an effort to train and equip Syrian moderates "because I thought there would be extremist groups filling the vacuum."

The former secretary of state drew another contrast with Obama on Syrian refugees, saying she urged the administration to increase its plan to accept 10,000 refugees in fiscal 2016.