McCain holds first talks with UK PM
U.S. presidential hopeful John McCain met British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Thursday to discuss Iraq, the world economy and climate change, but declined to offer any advice publicly about the pace of British troop withdrawals from southern Iraq. Brown hopes to cut British forces near Basra from 4,000 to about 2,500 in coming months. "I fully appreciate that British public opinion has been frustrated by sometimes our lack of progress" in Iraq and Afghanistan, McCain told reporters outside Brown's official residence in London. On Tuesday, he told reporters that pulling out of Iraq quickly would be a mistake that would boost Iran and al Qaeda. McCain, who has clinched enough delegate support to win the Republican Party nomination, stressed that his warnings about the dangers of a precipitate withdrawal from Iraq were about U.S. forces only. Britain's decision "is made by the British government and people," he said. "We appreciate enormously the long service and sacrifice of the British men and women in the military both in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said. The visit to London was part of McCain's weeklong tour of Middle East and Europe, offering the likely Republican presidential nominee a chance to burnish his credentials as a global statesman. Traveling as part of a U.S. congressional delegation, McCain also planned to meet with Britain's opposition Conservative party leader, David Cameron, and Europe's environment commissioner, Stavros Dimas. The delegation -- including senators Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham -- has visited Iraq, Jordan and Israel. Later Thursday, they planned to travel to Paris to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy. McCain repeated his belief that the U.S. troop "surge" in Iraq had been a success. "It's well-known that I have supported the surge, and it is at least very clear to most objective observers that the surge has succeeded where others predicted that it would fail," he said. "Having just come from Iraq, I can tell you unequivocally that the situation has improved dramatically over the last year. Iraqi people are going about their normal lives, but the fact is al Qaeda is on the run. They are not defeated," McCain said. "We are going to have to continue training the Iraqi military and doing what we've been doing if we are going to achieve a stable situation in Iraq," McCain said. Brown's meeting Thursday was his first with McCain. The British leader also has not met with Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama, but is a longtime friend of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and met with former U.S. President Bill Clinton during a visit to the United States in July. McCain will meet Cameron at his House of Commons office. The Arizona senator addressed an annual rally of Cameron's Conservatives in 2006. In a meeting with Dimas, McCain was expected to address U.S. climate change policy, European Commission spokeswoman Emilia Hinkkanen said. Dimas is attempting to win support from the three remaining major U.S. candidates for president for a plan to establish carbon trading in the U.S. to help cut carbon emissions. "I am convinced that if we work at it, we will be able to convince India and China that it is in their interest to be part of a global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," McCain said after meeting Brown. "Hardly a week goes by without us hearing about the enormous environmental challenges in China and India and the difficulties that those environmental problems are creating in their own countries. So I believe that we can achieve a global agreement," he said. |
