Incumbent Christopher Shays kicked off the subject in his opening remarks, reiterating his long held, but lately some say wavering, stance that, for the U.S. to pull its troops out of Iraq now would be unthinkable, triggering an all-out civil war between the country's competing religious sects and, in the end "make Iran the leader of the Arab world."

His Democratic opponent, Diane Farrell of Westport, accused Shays of supporting the "Bush agenda," which, she said was wrong in almost every aspect, but especially in its Iraq policies.

Farrell charged that Shays and the Republican Congress have done nothing to challenge the administration's failure to end the country's dependence on Mideast oil, and its profligate borrowing to pay the escalating costs of the Iraq war. That borrowing, she said, has resulted in a "stranglehold on the U.S. by the lending nations."

Farrell added that Shays' support of President Bush's policies shows "he has lost touch with the voters."

The debate, sponsored by the World Affairs Forum, took place at the University of Connecticut Stamford branch. The setting resembled an operating theater in a teaching hospital. Spectators seated at long desks in several tiers of balconies stared down at the candidates.

Former CBS newsman Mitchell Krauss moderated the debate.

Also included in the debate was Libertarian congressional candidate Phillip Maymin, of Greenwich, who repeatedly pointed out there was no significant difference between Shays' and Farrell's policies.

"If they somehow both got elected," he said, "they'd be buddy-buddy, sponsoring tons of legislation together."

Maymin claimed to be the only candidate of the three with an exit strategy for Iraq. That strategy was to set July 4, 2007 as the hard deadline day for U.S. troops to pull out. Such a deadline, he said, would force the divided Iraq government to find a way to work together.

When the floor was opened to questions from the audience, Shays was asked why he still stands with Bush after it was proven he lied to the country on the reason for invading Iraq.

While acknowledging that "huge mistakes" were made at first, Says defended his support of the president.

"I don't believe the president lied about the weapons of mass destruction," Shays said. "We all believed there were WMDs there." Shays again urged a "timeline" be set for U.S. withdrawal, but was not specific on when his timeline would start or end.

For her part, Farrell said that "staying the course in Iraq was simply not acceptable," because "time is running out there."

She said the competing religious forces in the Iraqi government should be brought to the negotiating table. Maymin took Farrell to task for claiming to have been against the war from the beginning, saying she supports a U.N. resolution that would allow that organization "to dictate" to the U.S.

Shays called charges by Farrell and others that he had shifted his opinion on Iraq, "political garbage. I am for winning in Iraq and for doing what we have to do to win."

Toward the end of the debate the participants tackled the topic of Darfur in Africa was raised.

Shays said that European nations must do more there and U.S. planes should "shoot down at Sudanese planes that are bombing civilians."

Farrell said that China's help should be enlisted in east Africa because "they have a lot of good experience there."