McCain says U.S. can win Iraq war within four years

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - Republican presidentialcandidate John McCain said on Thursday he believes the Iraq warcan be won within four years, leaving a functioning democracythere and allowing most U.S. troops to come home.

The Arizona senator's Democratic rivals for the WhiteHouse, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, are running on apledge to begin bringing U.S. troops home right away and havelinked McCain's policies on the unpopular war to those ofPresident George W. Bush.

The Democratic candidates also charge McCain wants to keepthe United States entangled in Iraq for 100 years.

McCain says any decades-long presence of U.S. troops wouldbe aimed at maintaining stability in the region and has likenedit to the U.S. military presence in Japan, South Korea andGermany.

McCain, running in the November election to succeed Bush in2009, described a scenario he thought he could achieve withinhis first four-year term.

"By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of theservicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so thatAmerica might be secure in her freedom," McCain said inprepared remarks he was to deliver in Columbus, Ohio.

"The Iraq war has been won. Iraq is a functioningdemocracy, although still suffering from the lingering effectsof decades of tyranny and centuries of sectarian tension.Violence still occurs, but it is spasmodic and much reduced,"McCain said.

The Republican senator said that although the United Stateswould still have a troop presence in Iraq, those soldiers wouldnot need a "direct combat role" because Iraqi forces would becapable of providing order.

BIN LADEN, THE ECONOMY

McCain also predicted that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Ladenwould be captured or killed within four years and the militantgroup's presence in Afghanistan would be reduced to remnants.

On the economy, he promised taxpayers the option of filingunder a simpler system than the current multilayered code andsaid he would overhaul government spending practices that haveled to "extravagantly wasted money."

Ohio is expected to be a hard-fought state in the generalelection and McCain's visit there came as Obama, the Democraticfront-runner, got another boost by gaining the endorsement offormer Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.

Holding an almost unassailable lead over Clinton indelegates who will pick their party's nominee, Obama hasincreasingly turned his attention toward McCain.

On Iraq, McCain has argued the Democratic candidates arepromising a reckless pullout, a pledge he says they would neverbe able to keep once they face the realities.

The unpopularity of Bush and the Iraq war has taken a tollon the political fortunes of Republicans.

The party, which lost control of Congress to Democrats in2006 elections, has suffered some losses in special electioncontests this year, including a race in Mississippi on Tuesdaywhere Democrat Travis Childers won a U.S. House ofRepresentatives seat in Mississippi.

Vice President Dick Cheney campaigned against Childers andRepublican ads tried to link him to Obama, who is viewed bymany Mississippians as too liberal.

McCain said on Wednesday he recognized his party's batteredimage would pose challenges for him.

"We've got a lot of work to do," McCain said. "I have a lotof work to do."

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)