Obama, McCain face off in second US debate

Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama promised at their second debate on Wednesday to help middle-class Americans fearful about their futures and facing what Obama called the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

With U.S. financial institutions reeling, the presidential candidates differed on their approach to healing the economy during the second of three televised debates in Nashville, Tennessee.

"Americans are angry, they're upset and they're a little fearful," McCain said in the debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. "We don't have trust and confidence in our institutions."

McCain proposed a new government program, to be run by the Treasury Department, which would buy mortgages from homeowners facing financial problems and replace those mortgages with new, fixed-rate mortgages.

The McCain campaign said the program would cost roughly $300 billion. Democrats in Congress for months have been calling for legislation to help families facing home foreclosures.

Obama said middle-class workers, not just Wall Street, needed a rescue package that would include tax cuts. He said the U.S. government should ensure Wall Street executives do not benefit from bonus payments from failing companies.

"We are in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and a lot of you I think are worried about your jobs, your pensions, your retirement accounts," he said.

The debate featured little of the anger and aggressive attacks that have been featured on the campaign trail in the last week. John McCain and Barack Obama clashed repeatedly over the financial crisis but strove to show voters they cared about their economic fears in their second presidential debate.

Iran sanctions

U.S. presidential candidates Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama both said they would work if elected to toughen sanctions on Iran to stop it acquiring nuclear weapons.

The two candidates outlined sharp foreign policy differences, but both agreed that Iran should not be allowed to build an atomic bomb.

"We cannot allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon, it would be a game-changer in the region," Obama said. "Not only would it threaten Israel, but it would also create the possibility of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists."

Obama said that if elected on Nov. 4 his administration would push to tighten sanctions on Iran and restrict gasoline imports to the Islamic Republic, which suffers a shortage of refined fuel.

McCain raised the specter of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East that would threaten the stability of the region and the security of Israel.

"If Iran acquires nuclear weapons all the other countries will acquire them too. The tensions would be ratcheted up," he said, before adding, "We can never allow a second Holocaust to take place."

We cannot allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon, it would be a game-changer in the region,

Obama

Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq

White House hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama clashed once again on combating terrorism on the Afghan-Pakistan border in their second presidential debates.

Democrat Obama, replying to a question from an audience member, said: "If we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out, then I think that we have to act and we will take them out."

"We will kill bin Laden," vowed the Illinois senator. "We will crush al-Qaeda that has to be our biggest national security priority."

In response, his Republican rival McCain said Obama had "announced that he will attack Pakistan."

"Senator Obama likes to talk aloud," said McCain, arguing Obama's strategy would gain no allies in Pakistan. A cross border attack would instead rally Pakistani public opinion against the United States, the Arizona senator said.

"We need to get them to work with us and turn against the Taliban and others."

Obama also tried to turn McCain's claims that he lacks experience back against the Arizona senator.

"I don't understand how we ended up invading the country that had nothing to do with 9/11," Obama said, referring to Iraq and the September 11 attacks in 2001.

A cross border attack would instead rally Pakistani public opinion against the United States,

McCain

No-fly zone over Darfur

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he intends to implement a no-fly zone over the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur if he wins the race for the White House.

"There's a lot of cruelty around the world," said Obama when he was invited to sketch out his foreign policy doctrine in a televised debate with Republican rival John McCain in this southern U.S. city.

"Take Darfur right at the moment. Right now, there is a peacekeeping force that has been set up and we have African Union troops in Darfur that has stopped genocide," he said.

"We could be supplying logistical support and setting up a no-fly zone at little expense to us -- and that's what I intend to do as president."