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US presidential candidate John McCain said he believes the Iraq war can be won within four years, leaving a functioning democracy there and allowing most US troops to come home.

It was the first time the Arizona senator has put a date on when US troops could be withdrawn from Iraq.

The five-year war is unpopular with the US public and McCain's Democratic rivals for the White House, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, have pledged to begin bringing US troops home right away.

McCain has called such promises reckless. He has rejected withdrawal timetables and agrees with President George W Bush that troop levels should be governed by conditions on the ground.

McCain, who will run against either Obama or Clinton in November to succeed Bush in January 2009, laid out a scenario he thought was achievable within his first four-year term.

"By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom," McCain said in a speech in Columbus, Ohio.

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

Under that scenario, US troops would still be present, but those soldiers would not play a "direct combat role" because Iraqi forces would be capable of providing order.

Speaking with reporters after the speech, McCain insisted he was not talking about a timetable for withdrawal but discussing what he believed would be achieved.

"I'm saying that we are succeeding in Iraq and we will have succeeded further in Iraq in 2013," he said.

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

On the economy, he promised taxpayers the option of filing under a simpler system than the current multilayered code and said he would overhaul government spending practices that have led to "extravagantly wasted money."

Ohio is expected to be a hard-fought state in the general election and McCain's visit there came as Obama, the Democratic front-runner, moves closer to his party's nomination.

Obama has charged that McCain wants to keep the United States entangled in Iraq for 100 years, referring to a comment McCain made in January, when he asked how many years the United States might have a presence in Iraq.

McCain responded, "Maybe a hundred."

He has since said that remark was taken out of context and he was talking about a troop presence aimed at maintaining stability, like the US presence now in Japan, South Korea and Germany.

McCain said on Wednesday he recognized his party's battered image posed challenges for him.

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


Reuters

[JohnCenaFan28]

The war should be ended...