Bill Clinton, Donald Trump strike pointed contrast over Iraq

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump discussed a plethora of issues

Washington: US Presidential nominees Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton addressed topics ranging from national security to veteran affairs in their first television forum.

The two struck a pointed contrast on deploying ground troops to Iraq during the town hall held in New York on Wednesday by NBC News and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Democratic presidential nominee Clinton pledged that the US was "not putting ground troops into Iraq ever again, and we are not putting ground troops into Syria", while the Republican nominee disagreed, it was reported.

Trump, who has talked about the importance of "taking the oil" in the Middle East, said: "We would leave a certain group behind and they would take the various sections where they have the oil." The forum came hours after Trump laid into Clinton as "trigger happy".

In response to a question on military sexual assault, Trump suggested that the epidemic was a consequence of allowing women to serve in the military. Trump also called for "a court system within the military", seemingly unaware that the military has always been governed by a court system separate from civilians.

Clinton, by contrast, sought to re-emphasise her foreign policy expertise while defending her legacy as Secretary of State. She was also grilled on her use of a private email server, which she again stated was "a mistake".