Former President Bill Clinton urged a friendly crowd Wednesday night at the University of Iowa to support his successor President Bush and the U-S troops in the Middle East. Clinton said because he was President and sent young men and women in harm’s way in Bosnia, Kosovo, Haiti, the Middle East and Africa, he believes Americans should — whatever their political party — pray for the President and the young soldiers to safely return from their mission. Clinton said we all have a stake in reducing chemical and biological weapons, and in the smallest possible loss of American and Iraqi lives. And Clinton says he hopes the international community, even countries that disagreed with the Iraqi war, will join in building a “new Middle east.” The former democratic president was not as forgiving about the fiscal policies of the current republican administration, saying no president has ever asked Congress for a tax cut at a time of national emergency. Clinton pointed out that during his two terms in office, a national budget surplus was created. Clinton said, “when I left office, there was enough money” to fund Social Security ’til the year 2053, and Medicare ’til 2030. The former Rhodes scholar outlined his vision for a peaceful future for the students at Carver Hawkeye Arena. Clinton told the students their task when they grow up is to: never forget security, make more friends, cooperate, make America better, and have habits of mind and heart that say “there is no ‘them,’ only ‘us’.” Clinton said one reason he was cautious about sending troops abroad was the criticism of American military by other countries.Clinton said if we went someplace and did something they didn’t like we were in trouble, but if we didn’t do something others wanted we were criticized, too, so the capacity of the American military is something others want badly, when we’re doing what they want us to do. The former president shied away from choosing sides in the battle between the Cyclones and the Hawkeyes.Clinton said he likes to leave a place more peaceful than when he found it, so he didn’t want to talk about the Iowa – Iowa State rivalry. Clinton said he was grateful for every contact he ever had with Iowa, calling his visits to the state an “incredible experience.”