McCain predicts victory in Iraq, bin Laden removed by 2013 if he's president
May 15, 2008COLUMBUS, Ohio - Republican John McCain declared for the first time Thursday he believes the Iraq war can be won by 2013, but he rejected suggestions his talk of a timetable put him on the same side as Democrats clamouring for fullscale troop withdrawals.
The Republican presidential contender, in a mystical speech that also envisioned Osama bin Laden dead or captured, said only a small number of U.S. troops would remain in Iraq by the end of a prospective first term.
This is because al-Qaida would have been defeated and Iraq's government would be functioning on its own, McCain said.
"By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom. The Iraq War has been won," McCain told an audience of several hundred.
Later as he drove to the airport on his "Straight Talk Express" campaign bus, McCain was peppered with questions from reporters about the timetable.
He and his aides insisted there was a difference between ending the war and bringing troops home and, as they criticize the Democrats, announcing a withdrawal without regard for the military endgame.
"It's not a timetable; it's victory. It's victory, which I have always predicted," McCain said. "I didn't know when we were going to win World War II; I just knew we were going to win."
In the primary campaign, Arizona senator and Vietnam veteran had criticized former Republican rival Mitt Romney for hinting at a timetable.
Democrats challenged McCain's comments, led by presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton.
In a statement, the New York senator dismissed McCain and said he "promises more of the same Bush policies that have weakened our military, our national security and our standing in the world."
Other Democrats equated McCain's comment with President George W. Bush's May 1, 2003, speech on the deck of an aircraft carrier displaying a "Mission Accomplished" banner.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said: "The reality behind Senator McCain's new rhetoric is that his plans either ignore the problems he identifies or actually makes them worse."
Outlining other potential achievements of a first term, the 71-year-old McCain predicted a world in which the Taliban threat in Afghanistan has been greatly reduced.
"The increase in actionable intelligence that the counterinsurgency produced led to the capture or death of Osama bin Laden, and his chief lieutenants. ... There still has not been a major terrorist attack in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001."
And in domestic affairs, McCain expects government spending would be curbed by his willingness to veto costly legislation from Congress.
In his remarks, McCain peered through a crystal ball to 2013 and envisioned an era of bipartisanship driven by weekly news conferences and British-style question periods with joint meetings of Congress.
McCain conceded he cannot make the changes alone, but said he wanted to outline a specific governing style to show the accomplishments it can achieve.
"I'm not interested in partisanship that serves no other purpose than to gain a temporary advantage over our opponents. This mindless, paralyzing rancour must come to an end. We belong to different parties, not different countries," McCain said.
"There is a time to campaign, and a time to govern. If I'm elected president, the era of the permanent campaign will end; the era of problem-solving will begin."
