McCain criticizes handling of Iraq war, urges patience

ELKO -- U.S. Sen. John McCain reiterated his criticism of the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq on Saturday, and proclaimed that Donald Rumsfeld will be remembered as one the worst defense secretaries in history.

But the Republican White House hopeful asked Americans for patience, and affirmed his support for the administration's recent troop surge.

"The war is long and hard and tough. I'm not here to tell you, 'Mission accomplished,'" McCain said, distancing himself from President Bush's declaration of an end to major military actions in Iraq nearly four years ago.

The war was "terribly mismanaged" and Rumsfeld will go "down as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history," McCain said.

The Arizona Republican made the comments to a crowd of about 300 people at a campaign rally in this rural Republican stronghold.

He also lashed out at Democrats, predicting they will drop their call for a troop withdrawal timeline and not cut funding for the war effort because of the consequences.

"The fact is they won't do it because (then) they assume responsibility for what takes place," McCain said.

McCain, a former Navy pilot, touted his experience and fiscal conservatism, pledging to rein in pork-barrel spending and cut government waste.

"I know war. I know peace. I served in the military, I know how the military works. I know how the world works," he said. "I need no on-the-job training."

He repeated his stance that mistakes have been made in launching the war but that withdrawing troops would lead to chaos and genocide, and embolden terrorists to bring their violence to American soil.

McCain's visit was part of a five-state, four-day swing to officially kick off his presidential campaign. He was to wrap up the tour later in the day in Tempe, Ariz.

McCain has been trailing in polls and fundraising to Republican Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York. He acknowledged his uphill campaign Saturday with humor.

Citing his own failed presidential bid in 2000, as well as those of fellow Arizonians Barry Goldwater, Morris Udall, and Bruce Babbitt, he quipped, "Arizona may be the only state in America where mothers don't tell their children that some day they can be president of the United States."

The senator has struggled to maintain his reputation for political independence while defending the administration's unpopular war policies.

In a speech in Las Vegas last week, McCain criticized Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid when the Nevada Democrat said the war in Iraq was "lost."

"We cannot declare this war lost when young Americans are fighting and sacrificing over there today," McCain said Saturday in response.

"Presidents don't lose wars. Political parties don't lose wars. Nations lose wars and when nations lose wars, they suffer the consequences."

In an interview following the rally, he also criticized fellow Republican candidate Mitt Romney, who this week said the country would be safer by only "a small percentage" and would see "a very insignificant increase in safety" if al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was caught because another terrorist would rise to power.

"The hunt for Osama bin Laden must be pursued until we find him and either capture him or kill him," McCain said. "It is naive not to understand how important a symbol Osama bin Laden is to would-be terrorists and radical Islamic extremists all over the world."

McCain also took aim at the Bush administration on the issue of global warming.

"Probably one of the great failings of the Bush administration in my view is not to acknowledge that climate change was indeed a threat to our planet," he said.

McCain is trailing both Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, and Giuliani in fundraising in the state. Giuliani raised more than $510,000 in Nevada in the first three months of the year, according to FEC reports. Romney raised nearly $400,000, and McCain raised nearly $100,000, the reports show.