Clinton said she couldn't promise to bring all U.S. troops home in her first term if she is elected president.

''I don't know what I'm going to inherit,'' Clinton said on ABC. ''I don't know and neither do any of us know what will be the situation in the region.''

She also condemned an advertisement by the anti-war group MoveOn.org that Republicans and other critics said questioned the integrity of General David Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in Iraq.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called overhauling the U.S. health-insurance system a ''moral imperative'' and said that raising taxes on the wealthy along with cost savings would be enough to pay for the proposal she unveiled last week.

''We cannot continue down this path,'' the New York senator said on the ''Fox News Sunday'' program, one of the five talk shows she appeared on today. ''It is a moral imperative that we provide health insurance for the 47 million uninsured Americans.''

Clinton's health-care proposal, released on Sept. 17 in Iowa, would require all Americans to have health insurance. It would give many Americans the option of paying to join a new government-run plan, require insurance companies to accept all applicants and offer tax credits to help families afford coverage.

She said it would be paid for with $52 billion gained from repealing a tax cut passed during President George W. Bush's first term for those earning more than $250,000 annually and $55 billion saved by making the health-care system more efficient.

Clinton is the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 and has held the lead over her competitors in polls of Democratic voters since the start of the year. A Sept. 14-16 Gallup Organization survey gave her a 22 percentage point advantage over Illinois Senator Barack Obama, her closest rival.

Top Issues

The same poll showed Americans identified health care as the top issue facing the country after the war in Iraq.

Republicans have criticized Clinton's plan as an expansion of government. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Fox that while ''some of the goals are right'' in Clinton's plan, her method of achieving them would result in greater government involvement in the health-care marketplace.

''This is a big government, high-tax, bureaucratic plan,'' the Georgia Republican, who is considering a presidential run, said. ''It's much better than Hillary care of 1993, but it is nonetheless, in the end, a big government plan.''

In 1993, when her husband, Bill Clinton, was president, she initiated an effort to overhaul the nation's health-care system that was criticized as a government takeover of medicine. It ultimately failed to win enough support.

Scars From Fight

''I think the country bears the scars'' from that fight, Clinton said on ABC's ''This Week'' program. ''Since we weren't successful, we've seen millions of more people without insurance.''

Her new plan ''is not government-run health care,'' Clinton said on NBC's ''Meet the Press'' program. ''It doesn't create any new bureaucracy.''

On the Iraq war, Clinton, 59, told Fox News she wouldn't vote for further spending ''that does not move us toward beginning to withdraw our troops, that does not have pressure on the Iraqi government to make the tough political decisions that they have.''

Democratic congressional leaders said last week that they expect the administration to seek $50 billion more for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year. The New York Times reported today that the request will be presented Sept. 26 and that about a quarter of the money would be used for more armored trucks that can withstand roadside bombs.

Troop Withdrawals

Clinton said she couldn't promise to bring all U.S. troops home in her first term if she is elected president.

''I don't know what I'm going to inherit,'' Clinton said on ABC. ''I don't know and neither do any of us know what will be the situation in the region.''

She also condemned an advertisement by the anti-war group MoveOn.org that Republicans and other critics said questioned the integrity of General David Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in Iraq.

''I think it's important that we end these kinds of attacks on the patriotism of those who serve our country,'' Clinton said on NBC's ''Meet the Press'' program. ''This is not a debate about an ad. This is a debate about the direction we should pursue in Iraq.''

Clinton also addressed the issue of contributions she received from fund-raiser Norman Hsu, who has been charged with defrauding investors and violating federal campaign-finance law.

''I'm very much in favor of public financing,'' Clinton said. ''That is the answer to all of these issues that have arisen.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Alison Vekshin in Washington at avekshin@bloomberg.net .