John McCain in Iraq

By Paul Tait

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain arrived in Iraq on Sunday to assess the success of a U.S. troop build-up that he has strongly backed, part of a week-long trip to the Middle East and Europe.

He is scheduled to meet Iraqi leaders and U.S. military officials, said U.S. embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo. He is visiting as a member of a fact-finding mission for the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee.

McCain, who will be the Republican choice in November's presidential election, and Senate allies Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham will also visit Israel, Britain and France.

Analysts see the trip as a chance for McCain to show off his knowledge of foreign policy and military affairs while Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama fight out a bitter Democratic nomination process at home.

While acknowledging that leaders like British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy might see the trip as a chance to size him up as a potential president, McCain has said he is not traveling as a candidate.

The visit is his eighth to Iraq since U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq in March 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein.

McCain, a former Navy pilot and Vietnam War hero, supported going to war but was a vocal critic of how the war was conducted until an extra 30,000 troops were deployed last year as part of a new counter-insurgency strategy.

His political standing has risen and fallen to some degree depending on whether the war has been going well or badly.