As the nation marks the death of more than 2,000 American soldiers in Iraq, the war debate is surfacing again in the city’s race for mayor.

The Democratic nominee, Fernando Ferrer, used the milestone to criticize Mayor Bloomberg for not taking a position on the war. His campaign sent out a statement on Tuesday with the heading, “Ferrer to Bloomberg: With 2,000 Dead, Is Iraq War Still Not A Local Issue?” The statement quoted the mayor as saying in August that the war is “not a local issue. I don’t have anything to say.”

“It is time for Mike Bloomberg to come clean on Iraq,” Mr. Ferrer said in the statement. “Does he still support President Bush and his phony Iraq war?”

Yet Mr. Ferrer appeared less eager yesterday to expound on his own stance on America’s Iraq policy as he stumped in Stuyvesant Town.

Asked by a reporter whether he thought America should withdraw its troops, Mr. Ferrer repeated his attack on Mr. Bloomberg, and criticized the decision to invade Iraq. Pressed again on the question of withdrawal, Mr. Ferrer reiterated that he thought the war was an important local issue. “It’s certainly a local issue when we are building firehouses in Iraq and closing them down in New York City,” he said.

But should America withdraw from Iraq? As reporters pushed him to clarify his position, Mr. Ferrer said, “I think we should withdraw our troops” before walking away.

A spokesman for the Ferrer campaign, Christy Setzer, said Mr. Ferrer had supported the withdrawal of troops since the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003. And when asked in a Democratic primary debate last month whether he would use the mayor’s bully pulpit to advocate for America’s immediate withdrawal from Iraq, Mr. Ferrer answered, “Yes.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Bloomberg yesterday qualified his earlier statement that the war was not a local issue. The remark had come in late August in response to a question about Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who has become a leader in the anti-war movement.

“The war is a national issue, and it’s a local issue,” Mr. Bloomberg said in Long Island City. He noted that more than 30 New Yorkers had died in the conflict. “The war is clearly something that all of us tragically have an interest in.”

The mayor said he agreed with Senators Schumer and Clinton that American soldiers should be supported while they are in Iraq. “I want to make sure that the soldiers over there get the kind of support that they need, so that we can bring them home safely,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “And we’ve got to find ways to make sure that the sacrifices that we have made, that they haven’t been in vain. I think everybody would love to get our troops home as quickly as practicable.”