Source:
nytimesNovember 10, 2007
Seeing Progress in Iraq, McCain Hopes for Credit
By MARC SANTORA
CONCORD, N.H., Nov. 9 — Now that President Bush’s decision early this year to send more troops to Iraq is showing signs of reducing the violence in Baghdad, Senator John McCain, who had long called for beefing up the American military presence there, is betting that the politics of the war are changing as well.
Mr. McCain, Republican of Arizona, is making his early advocacy of the troop increase and his push for a change in strategy a central theme of his presidential campaign. He is using it to distance himself from the Bush administration, whose handling of the war he regularly denounces, and from his Republican rivals, none of whom, he says, displayed the leadership, courage or knowledge necessary to win in Iraq.
“I was the only one, the only candidate for president of the United States on either side” who fought to change course by providing more troops, he told voters in Iowa this week.
“I did everything in my power to try and change that strategy,” he said, referring to the course originally set by President Bush. “I was severely criticized by other Republicans for being disloyal. I said we had to have the strategy we are using now.”
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