McCain says Democrats make "reckless" Iraq promises

By Jeff Mason

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain charged his Democratic rivals on Monday with making "reckless" promises they cannot keep by pledging speedy U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq.

McCain kicked off a week in which the war returns to center stage in Washington and on the U.S. presidential campaign, with the top American commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, to give congressional testimony on Tuesday.

"I do not believe that anyone should make promises as a candidate for president that they cannot keep if elected," McCain said to applause in a speech to a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention.

Arizona Sen. McCain and his Democratic rivals, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, are all scheduled to be on Capitol Hill for the Petraeus testimony, and they are far apart on a war that has cost more than 4,000 American lives.

McCain argued U.S. forces should be given more time to let political reconciliation take place in Iraq. The Democrats say it is time to get out.

McCain used the word "reckless" four times to describe the Democrats' position, saying they are promoting an easier course of action to try to get an advantage in the election.

Obama had a withering response, saying McCain was "wrong about the war from the beginning."

"It's a failure of leadership to support an open-ended occupation of Iraq that has failed to press Iraq's leaders to reconcile, badly overstretched our military, put a strain on our military families, set back our ability to lead the world and made the American people less safe," he said.