McCain: Iraq War can be won by 2013

BY JILL ZUCKMAN | Tribune Washington Bureau; The Associated Press contributed to this report.

May 16, 2008

WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain looked into the future yesterday and predicted that American troops would return home in victory by the end of his first term as president in 2013.

"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 said in a speech in Columbus, Ohio.

McCain's comments quickly drew widespread condemnation from Democrats and questions about whether he was actually setting a timetable for withdrawal, something he has strenuously criticized.

"It's not a timetable; it's victory. It's victory, which I have always predicted. I didn't know when we were going to win World War II; I just knew we were going to win," McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, told reporters.

"I know from experience, you set a day for surrender - which is basically what you do when you say you are withdrawing - and you will pay a much a heavier price later on."

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who favors a withdrawal, said McCain offered no concrete proposals to back up his goal.

"This is not the first time Senator McCain has predicted victory in Iraq," Clinton said. "He promises more of the same Bush policies that have weakened our military, our national security, and our standing in the world. Our country cannot afford more empty promises on Iraq."

McCain also emphasized his commitment to working in a bipartisan manner to move the country forward. McCain's track record of working with Democrats on campaign finance reform, judicial nominations and immigration is something his campaign wants to make sure that voters know about.

Clinton, campaigning in South Dakota, also scolded McCain for his opposition to the farm bill, attempting to maintain the sense that she is already competing against the certain Republican presidential nominee even as her chances for winning the Democratic nomination dim.

As she chatted up rural South Dakotans, Clinton largely ignored Democratic rival Barack Obama, who continued to gain ground in delegates needed to clinch the nomination and who picked up a sought-after endorsement from former Sen. John Edwards this week.

Clinton noted that President George W. Bush has said he will veto the farm bill, which Congress passed yesterday, and McCain has also said he would veto the bill if he were president.

"They're like two sides of the same coin, and it doesn't amount to much change, does it?" Clinton said. "I believe saying no to the farm bill is saying no to rural America."

Obama, in a statement released by his campaign, applauded passage of the bill, saying the measure was "far from perfect," but "with so much at stake, we cannot make the perfect the enemy of the good."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

First-term goals

From the McCain speech:

"The Iraq War has been won, Iraq is a functioning democracy ... " and most of the U.S. forces have returned home.

"There is no longer any place in the world al-Qaida can consider a safe haven" and Osama bin Laden is captured or dead.

The economy will be growing, with lower taxes.

"The spending binge in Washington has ended," thanks to the McCain veto pen.

Southern borders are secure and illegal immigration is "under control."