WASHINGTON (AFP) — Republican presidential candidate John McCain will say Thursday for the first time that most US troops would be home from Iraq by 2013 after the war would be won under his watch.
The Arizona senator was also due to say in a speech that Osama bin Laden would be captured or killed, and that the threat from the Taliban in Afghanistan would be greatly reduced under his stewardship.
"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," McCain was to say in a speech in Columbus, Ohio.
"The Iraq War has been won. Iraq is a functioning democracy, although still suffering from the lingering effects of decades of tyranny and centuries of sectarian tension," McCain was to say, according to a copy of the speech.
McCain's comments appeared to be an effort to neutralize an attack by Democrats who argue he would be ready to fight a 100-year war in Iraq.
In his crystal ball speech, McCain was to say the Iraq of 2013 would still see violence, but it would be "spasmodic" and "much reduced," while the government was capable of imposing its authority in every province of Iraq with professional armed forces, McCain was to say.
By 2013 the US troops still in Iraq would not play a direct combat role, said McCain, who was a staunch supporter of President George W. Bush's surge strategy.
Looking ahead to the end of his putative first term, McCain also said he would have improved intelligence and counter-insurgency cooperation with Pakistan.
"The increase in actionable intelligence that the counterinsurgency produced led to the capture or death of Osama bin Laden, and his chief lieutenants," he said.
Both Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have pledged to start bringing home combat troops as soon as they are elected, and have accused McCain of being ready to fight an endless war in Iraq.
As polls show eight in ten Americans believe their country is heading in the wrong direction, McCain also said it was time to drain the fierce partisanship staining Washington.
"I am well aware I cannot make any of these changes alone," McCain was to say.
"For too long, now, Washington has been consumed by a hyper-partisanship that treats every serious challenge facing us as an opportunity to trade insults, disparage each other's motives, and fight about the next election.
"Americans are sick of it, and they have every right to be. They are sick of the politics of selfishness, stalemate and delay," McCain said.
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