'I hate war,' ex-POW McCain says

By Chris Cermak Sep 5, 2008, 8:39 GMT

Republican Candidate for President John McCain and his wife Cindy McCain celebrate after McCain delivered his acceptance speech on the floor of the Republican National Convention at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, 04 September, 2008. EPA/SHAWN THEW

St Paul, Minnesota/Washington - Republican presidential nominee John McCain touted his valorous military career and unwavering support for the war in Iraq as proof of his readiness to lead the United States.

In accepting the party's presidential nomination Thursday night, McCain often came back to the 'country first' theme that has dominated the four-day Republican convention in St Paul, Minnesota.

'I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else's,' McCain said of his five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, from which he still bears scars and physical handicaps.

'I was never the same again. I wasn't my own man any more. I was my country's.'

McCain's military service and captivity was promoted regularly to make the point that the Arizona senator would always put the good of the country above politics, but it was also used to portray a man who would only take the country to war if absolutely necessary.

'In Vietnam, where I formed the closest friendships of my life, some of those friends never came home with me. I hate war. It is terrible beyond imagination,' McCain said. 'I'm running for president to keep the country I love safe.'

McCain painted a picture of a 'dangerous world' that required a steady hand at the helm of the world's strongest military power. Other Republican speakers argued that Democratic rival Barack Obama was a risky, inexperienced choice as commander-in-chief.

'We face many dangerous threats ... but I'm not afraid of them. I'm prepared for them. I know how the military works, what it can do, what it can do better and what it shouldn't do,' McCain said.

Though President George W Bush remains deeply unpopular, and while a majority of US voters believe the 2003 invasion of Iraq was a mistake, opinion polls give McCain an edge over Obama in handling foreign policy.

'He let us know that he's ready to be our commander-in-chief. He's ready to lead, now,' said Gale Sayers, a delegate from Converse, Texas, at the Republican convention.

Aside from the readiness question, Republicans have sought to counter Obama's argument that he has the superior judgement required of a commander-in-chief, most recently stressing McCain's hardline stance against Russia in its conflict with Georgia.

McCain on Thursday said Russian leaders 'have rejected democratic ideals and the obligations of a responsible power.'

The invasion of Georgia was an example of Moscow's 'ambitions of reassembling the Russian empire.'

But above all other foreign issues, McCain has gone on the offensive over the unpopular war in Iraq in order to make the case that he has the judgement that Obama lacks, an argument that will be key between now and November 4.

Obama, a US senator from Illinois since 2005, has made his early opposition to the Iraq invasion one of his signature issues, arguing that US forces were prevented from completing the job of defeating al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

He has called since the start of his presidential campaign in 2007 for their timely US withdrawal from Iraq.

But a sharp decline in violence in the last several months has allowed McCain to make the case that - despite failings in the early management of the war - he will be the one to bring US troops home victoriously.

While some of the reduction in violence has been due to former Sunni militant groups switching sides and cooperating with US forces, much has been credited to the so-called surge - an extra 20,000 US troops and a change in strategy that was implemented by the US military in the spring of 2007.

The surge 'succeeded, and it rescued us from a defeat that would have demoralized our military, risked a wider war and threatened the security of all Americans,' McCain said.

McCain, who supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, was a vocal proponent of the surge at a time when US and Iraqis were sustaining heavy casualties and opposition to the ongoing Iraq war was peaking.

Obama, who opposed the surge, on Thursday acknowledged it had 'succeeded beyond our wildest dreams' in an interview with Fox News, but said it had yet to foster the political reconciliation in Iraq that was so desperately needed.

McCain's stance on Iraq nearly cost him the Republican nomination, but he has since turned the issue into an asset, one that he says demonstrates his judgement and principled convictions.

'When the pundits said my campaign was finished,' McCain recalled, 'I said I'd rather lose an election than see my country lose a war.'