McCain: Democrats' stance on Iraq flawed
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080408/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_14Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks to reporters aboard the campaign airplane in route from Phoenix, Ariz. to Kansas City, Mo. Sunday, April 6, 2008. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)By LIBBY QUAID, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 9 minutes ago
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Monday that calls from his Democratic rivals to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq stand as a "failure of leadership" as they are making promises they cannot keep. Democrat Barack Obama said the failure rests with McCain's support for an open-ended occupation of Iraq.
Addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars, McCain criticized Obama and Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and insisted that last year's U.S. troop buildup in Iraq brought a glimmer of "something approaching normal" there, despite a recent outbreak of heavy fighting and a U.S. death toll that has surpassed 4,000.
Pulling out now would jeopardize recent gains, McCain said. "I do not believe that anyone should make promises as a candidate for president that they cannot keep if elected," McCain told the crowd of about 130 people, mostly veterans.
"To promise a withdrawal of our forces from Iraq, regardless of the calamitous consequences to the Iraqi people, our most vital interests, and the future of the Middle East, is the height of irresponsibility," he said. "It is a failure of leadership."