WASHINGTON (AFP)
U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain made an unannounced stop in Iraq on Sunday for talks with senior American officials on the first leg of a tour taking him to the Middle East and Europe.
His trip is aimed at burnishing his senior statesman credentials while Democratic rivals brawl back home.
The Arizona senator, who touts his foreign affairs experience over Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, is leading a congressional delegation which will meet the leaders of Jordan, Israel, Britain and France, according to his campaign office in Washington.
In Baghdad, he is due to meet the American ambassador Ryan Crocker, and to see firsthand the effects of the troop "surge" for which he has been a fervent advocate even as U.S. public support for the war in Iraq slumped.
McCain, who earlier this month sealed the Republican nomination after a series of primary victories, is joined on his trip by independent Senator Joe Lieberman and Republican Lindsey Graham, two staunch supporters in his White House bid.
McCain, who has staked his presidential hopes on Iraq, was making the latest of several trips to the war-ravaged country where more than 3,988 U.S. forces have been killed since the March 2003 invasion.
He told the New York Times that the overseas trip is not political but part of his role as the top Republican in the Democrat-led Senate Armed Services Committee.
But McCain's campaign will likely use the meetings with Jordan's King Abdullah, Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to convey that the senator is at home on the world stage.
The Vietnam war veteran and former prisoner of war recently likened himself to Britain's wartime prime minister Winston Churchill in a new ad laying out a hawkish foreign policy of "no surrender" to U.S. foes including Islamic extremists.
In January he reaffirmed his support for the deployment of thousands of additional U.S. troops in Iraq.
"When I raise my hand and vote to send young men and women, American men and women into harm's way and fight a war, I am committing to accomplishing the mission," McCain said, putting himself in stark contrast to Obama and Clinton who are seeking troop drawdowns from Iraq.
Meanwhile the Obama and Clinton camps have been singed by recent charges of racism and sexism, with party leaders concerned that the Democratic mud-slinging could detract from the party's goal of ousting the Republicans from the White House. |
