Region | Iraq
McCain visit will assess success of troop surge
US Republican presidential candidate John McCain arrived in Iraq on Sunday to assess the success of a US troop build-up that he has strongly backed, part of a week-long trip to the Middle East and Europe.
- Reuters
- Published: 14:21 March 16, 2008
Baghdad: US Republican presidential candidate John McCain arrived in Iraq on Sunday to assess the success of a US troop build-up that he has strongly backed, part of a week-long trip to the Middle East and Europe.
He is scheduled to meet Iraqi leaders and US military officials, said US embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo. He is visiting as a member of a fact-finding mission for the US Senate Armed Services Committee.
McCain, who will be the Republican choice in Nov-ember's presidential election, and Senate allies Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham will also visit Israel, Britain and France.
Analysts see the trip as a chance for McCain to show off his knowledge of foreign policy and military affairs while Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama fight out a bitter Democratic nomination process at home.
While acknowledging that leaders like British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy might see the trip as a chance to size him up as a potential president, McCain has said he is not travelling as a candidate.
The visit is his eighth to Iraq since US-led forces invaded Iraq in March 2003.
McCain, a former Navy pilot and Vietnam War hero, supported going to war but was a vocal critic of how the war was conducted until an extra 30,000 troops were deployed last year.
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