DURHAM — On the five-year anniversary of President's Bush's infamous "mission accomplished" speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen told a political science class at the University of New Hampshire that the mission in Iraq must change.

Shaheen, who is running against Republican incumbent John Sununu, told the students the U.S. needs to increase its diplomacy efforts in Iraq and the surrounding countries to find a political solution. There is, she said, no military solution to the problems there.

"The troops have done what their country has asked them to do," said Shaheen. "But what we have done is asked our troops to get involved in what is a civil war."

The troop surge, she said, worked in that it reduced violence, but once again the mission was not accomplished because Iraqi leaders have not made any progress toward a political resolution.

Shaheen also said terrorists on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan pose a greater national security threat than the war in Iraq.

Therein lies the need for a strategic plan to withdraw troops, she said, and force the Iraqis to resolve issues, such as how power is divided among the three sects and how revenue from oil is distributed. Shaheen likened the need for a timetable to the need for deadlines for term papers.

"If Professor (Lawrence) Reardon didn't set deadlines, you probably wouldn't get your work done, would you?" she said. "The same thing applies to Iraq."

The billions of dollars Iraq receives in oil revenues, she said, should go toward reconstruction of the country, rather than having American taxpayers footing the bill.

Environmental policies also have to change as a matter of national security. Subsidies to oil companies need to end and be redirected to finding alternative energy sources.

"As long as we send billions of dollars (for oil) overseas, we're no only funding our troops, but we're funding the people fighting our troops," she said. "We can no longer afford to be held hostage by oil producing countries."

Shaheen also fielded questions from the class, which ranged from free trade with Columbia to a state bill to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. Shaheen said she does not support the marijuana bill because it "sends the wrong message."

Reardon said Sununu has an open invitation to speak with the class as well.