If Americans see improved conditions, it is not too late for support to rally, the Republican says.
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Muscatine, Ia. - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said in Iowa on Monday that the decline in public opinion about the Iraq war had not yet reached the point of no return.
"I hope not," McCain said in a Des Moines Register interview, asked whether the public had given up hope on success in Iraq.
"I think the American people have to be shown some progress," the Arizona senator added. "But look, it's long, hard and difficult - I understand. Because of the mismanagement of the previous four years, it's going to be very difficult."
McCain, the GOP candidate most closely associated with President Bush's strategy to add troops in Iraq, pointed during a town hall event in Muscatine to recent improvements in security in some areas of Iraq.
"Things are safer in Al Anbar province, which used to be the most dangerous place in all of Iraq," McCain told more than 100 people at a midday event in Muscatine.
He also noted that not all of the more than 20,000 additional U.S. forces scheduled to be deployed had arrived in Iraq.
But Americans probably will not judge as significant the reduction of insurgent attacks on U.S. forces in some places when attacks by terrorists linked to al-Qaida are continuing to kill U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians weekly.
"I think it's very hard for them to" distinguish one form of violence in Iraq from another, McCain said in the interview.
McCain was campaigning in eastern Iowa during his second trip to the leadoff caucus state since formally launching his candidacy last month. He also made stops in the Quad Cities and North Liberty on Monday and was scheduled to headline campaign events in Council Bluffs and Fort Dodge today.
April was the bloodiest month of 2007 for U.S. forces in Iraq, with 104 deaths reported. Eight deaths on Sunday brought to 22 the number killed in the first six days of May, 17 of them in roadside bombings, according to news reports.
McCain cautioned an audience in Davenport that the terrorist bombings are likely to continue in Iraq, despite the new U.S. strategy.
"The hardest thing to stop in warfare is a suicide bomber," McCain told about 200 Iowa Republicans during the morning appearance. "So you are going to see this spectacular car bombing or the suicide bomber for a long time before this thing is over."
Approval of Bush's handling of the Iraq military situation has dropped steadily over the past three years to the point where today fewer than one-third of Americans support his performance, according to national polls. However, more than half of Americans who identify themselves as Republican say they support Bush's execution of the war.
McCain has been an outspoken critic of the administration's handling of the war, especially former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's performance. He had, however, long called for more troops in Iraq and became an early supporter of Bush's plan to increase the U.S. force's numbers there this year.
A Gallup poll taken last month indicated that about two-thirds of Americans said McCain was a reliable source of accurate information about the conditions in Iraq. The rating was about the same as those given Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Muscatine Republican Ian O'Connor said he was inclined to support McCain in the January caucuses but worried that the senator's staunch support for Bush's strategy could hurt his candidacy.
"It's pretty controversial, but I agree with McCain that to leave now would leave Iraq in chaos," said O'Connor, an Iowa State University junior. "But a lot of people have made up their mind that they're against it, and probably won't change their mind."
Reporter Thomas Beaumont can be reached at (515) 286-2532 or