WASHINGTON — Like no other candidate, John McCain has linked his campaign for president to an unpopular war — and to a lifelong focus on foreign issues that many voters ignore.
McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, became famous as a Vietnam prisoner of war and has spent his long Senate career traveling to more foreign countries than most people could even name.
He makes his eighth trip to Iraq this weekend, a visit sure to get a lot of attention. But his week-long overseas trip also includes Israel, Britain and France — all countries where he has made many visits.
A defiant supporter of the 2003 invasion and President Bush’s troop increase last year, McCain is likely to focus in Iraq on the drop in sectarian violence and U.S. and civilian casualties since last summer.
Last April, as McCain’s chances for winning the Republican nomination seemed uncertain, the four-term Arizona senator toured a Baghdad marketplace, hailing the progress. He was widely ridiculed as being out of touch.
As he returns, a new Pentagon study shows sectarian violence down 90 percent and U.S. and civilian casualties down 70 percent since July. A poll released Friday by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal said about 35 percent of those questioned think McCain has the right approach for Iraq, compared with 30 percent for Hillary Rodham Clinton and 27 percent for Barack Obama.
McCain calls the fight against Islamic extremism the “transcendent challenge of the 21st century.”
As for any effect his stance on the Iraq war might have on his candidacy, he said last week, “I’ve made it abundantly clear that I would much rather lose a campaign than a war.”
