McCain displays tough security image (AFP)

2008.09.05 - Terrorism - Source: - Comments [0]

ST PAUL, Minnesota (AFP) - John McCain has put the world on notice that he will take a tough stand on terror and international threats, vowing America cannot turn a blind eye on aggression.

But the 72-year-old White House aspirant who sees himself as more capable than his Democratic opponent Barack Obama in steering the superpower during a security turmoil did not lay down any new strategy as he accepted nomination for the presidency at the Republican party convention Thursday.

The convention underscored deep divisions within his conservative party on how to run a foreign policy in any McCain administration, according to reports.

"We face many threats in this dangerous world, but I'm not afraid of them," declared the ex-Navy pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war to his conservative party delegates.

"I know how the world works," he said, hastening to add that, "We can't turn a blind eye to aggression and international lawlessness that threatens the peace and stability of the world and the security of the American people."

Just before he spoke, a large video screen showed images of the World Trade Center crumbling on September 11, 2001.

The hawkish, original supporter of the war in Iraq, swiftly warned about the terror threats posed by Al-Qaeda, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and the potential nuclear danger from Iran as well as a resurgent Russia bullying its democratic neighbors.

But while he made clear that he wanted good relations with Moscow amid a threat of new Cold War between Russia and the West over Georgia, McCain did not say how he would handle China's rapid rise or how he would end the "forgotten" war in Afghanistan.

He emphasized that he was "right" from the beginning in his staunch support for the US troops 'surge' escalation strategy in Iraq -- a centerpiece of his election campaign -- but did not say whether a similar troop buildup in Afghanistan could be the trick to stop the bloodletting in the insurgency wracked nation.

The surge strategy, military commanders on the ground say, has helped bring down once-overwhelming levels of sectarian violence in Iraq.

Iraq has been at the center of the acrimonious White House battle, a prism for debate about US foreign policy and the national security experience required of a potential commander-in-chief.

Obama has pledged to begin troop withdrawals immediately if elected, and forsees most combat troops being out of Iraq by late 2010.

But McCain says such a pace of withdrawals could put recent security gains wrought by the US troop surge policy, which Obama opposed, at risk.

The turmoil in Afghanistan has also risen to the fore of the campaign as foreign troops face mounting casualties in the battlefield amid stepped up raids from Taliban militia in reported sanctuary in neighboring Pakistan.

About 70,000 international troops -- 40,000 of them with a NATO-led force -- are fighting alongside Afghans against the Taliban, whose regime was ousted in a US-led invasion launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The Pentagon is pushing for more troops to go to Afghanistan, but experts have questioned whether a new "surge" can shut down the insurgency.

With two months to go for the presidential polls, it is still unclear if McCain will lean toward the more confrontational, go-it-alone approach of President George W. Bush's first term, or will adopt the somewhat chastened, let's-negotiate tone of the second term, which has driven many of his conservative party hawks to despair, the New York Times reported Friday.

The Republican convention, it said, revealed a "fierce struggle" for the "foreign policy heart of John McCain" within the party.

It centered on the deep schism among Republicans over how to engage with the rest of the world, a running debate that has consumed different wings of the party and the Bush White House for the past seven and a half years, it said.

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