McCain seeking to assure Americans, "I detest war"

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain is attempting to reassure Americans that "I detest war" even as he strongly backs the current U.S. war strategy in Iraq.

McCain and his aides point to his past as a Vietnam prisoner of war as evidence that he is well aware of the sacrifices involved in war and not eager to get the United States involved in more conflicts if elected in November.

"Somebody who understands war, understands the military and has foreign policy and diplomatic experience is the best person to avoid war," said McCain senior adviser Charlie Black. "McCain is the last guy who wants to go to war and he knows all the other steps to do to avoid it."

At a time when his Democratic rivals are promising a way out of Iraq, McCain is adhering to a long-held view that the United States is in a war against radical Islamic extremists and that a central battle in that conflict is in Iraq.

He says the United States must stay in Iraq to help democracy take hold in the Middle East and remain there in some fashion in the years ahead as peacekeepers, much like U.S. troops have done in South Korea and Japan for decades.

Now that a troop increase in Iraq that he had recommended has improved security, more Americans are with him and willing to be more patient, he believes.

"A significant number of Americans believe we should come home with honor, not with disgrace and genocide," he told reporters on his campaign bus recently.

McCain speaks aggressively against Iran for its influence in Iraq and for what he says is its attempt to build a nuclear weapon despite a U.S. National Intelligence Estimate's conclusion late last year that Iran had put its bid to develop an atomic bomb on hold in 2003.