In a broad-ranging foreign policy speech, Republican John McCain on Wednesday called anew for the United States to work more collegially with democratic allies and live up to its duties as a world leader, drawing a sharp contrast to the past eight years under President Bush.
"Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed," the likely presidential nominee told the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.
McCain's speech was intended to signal that he would end an era of what critics have called Bush's cowboy diplomacy, though McCain never mentioned Bush's name.
In Iraq, McCain said, the U.S. goal should be to "win the hearts and minds of the vast majority of moderate Muslims who do not want their future controlled by a minority of violent extremists." Withdrawing from Iraq, as his Democratic rivals advocate, he said, "would be an unconscionable act of betrayal" that could subject the Iraqi people to violence, ethnic cleansing and possibly genocide.
McCain also said:
• Radical Islamic terrorism is "the transcendent challenge of our time."
• The Guantanamo Bay detention center should be closed.
• Russia should be expelled from the G-8 to make the group once again "a club of leading market democracies."
