Michael Ignatieff was forced to take a stand against U.S. President George Bush's strategy in Iraq during Sunday's Liberal leadership debate.

As fellow leadership hopefuls Bob Rae and Stephane Dion hammered the former Harvard scholar in a three-way debate, both portrayed Ignatieff as a hawk on Canada's mission in Afghanistan and used that as a springboard to attack Ignatieff's position on Iraq.

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservatives cut off debate to push through a two-year extension of Canada's mission in Afghanistan, "Michael was very proud to vote with Mr. Harper," Dion said.

When Iraq was raised, Ignatieff acknowledged that his support for the Kurds and Shia in Iraq is longstanding, since spending time with them in Iraq in 1992, when Saddam Hussein was in power.

Rae, the former NDP premier of Ontario, insisted that the record shows Ignatieff's stated support of U.S. intervention wasn't just to protect the Kurds and the Shiites, but because of Bush's argument that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, which turned out to be untrue.

"Mr. Bush made the wrong decision," Rae insisted. "I haven't heard you say Mr. Bush made the wrong decision."

Rae finally wrested a stand from the rookie MP with the question: "The issue is do you stand with George Bush on the intervention in Iraq or not? That's the issue."

"George Bush has made every mistake in Iraq and then some," Ignatieff replied. "I don't stand with George Bush. I stand with the independence and freedom of the Kurdish and Shia people and believe that one day they will push this country out of the ditch."

A better debate

Former prime ministerial aide Scott Reid told CTV Newsnet that Sunday's exchange was much more exciting than in previous debates.

"I actually thought that the Liberal party went to B.C. and found its backbone," said Reid.

"You've got to acknowledge the fact that Bob Rae is really good at this, he is really good at these debates," he said. "I don't know if he is the right choice for leader, necessarily -- maybe he is. But he sure chewed that stage up today."

Former deputy prime minister Anne McLellan agreed.

"There was such spirit out there," she said, crediting, in part, the change in debate format.

The format for Sunday's debate was a series of three-way, seven-minute debates on specific topics. That succeeded in creating sparks between Ignatieff, Dion, and Rae over Afghanistan and Iraq.

Ignatieff stood his ground in supporting the mission in Afghanistan.

"We made a promise to Afghan civilians, we made a promise to an elected government and Canada needs to keep that promise," he said.

Recalling the image of voters -- specifically women voters who had been hard hit by Taliban policies -- raising a purple finger after voting for a democratic government, he said Canada's role is to support them following their vote for democracy.

"Sometimes the only way you can defend human rights is to provide human security," he said. "That's the basis, it seems to me, and the logic of our position in Afghanistan."

Dion, a former Liberal cabinet minister, said he would be much more cautious in using troops to spread democracy.

Ignatieff said he respected former prime minister Jean Chretien's decision not to send Canadian troops to Iraq.

"I would be as cautious as you about the deployment of military force," Ignatieff told Dion, and said he would not commit troops to Iraq in future, calling the issue a red herring.

Rae stressed that he sees Canada's main role to be that of a peacekeeper and a country that helps find resolution to conflicts.

"We are not part of an empire," Rae said. "We are a country that believes profoundly in peace and the resolution of conflict. That's Canada's mission for the world."

Sunday's debate in Vancouver is the second-last debate before the Liberals choose their delegates for their convention in December. The final debate will be held on Oct. 15 in Toronto.

Other questions topics the candidates debated Sunday included the goals of the Kelowna aboriginal accord, the legalization of marijuana and how to preserve the fishery on Canada's west coast.

Those segments proved to be much more sedate, with no clear-cut policy differences.

With a report from CTV's Roger Smith