Iraq 'victory within sight'

Michigan - A US victory in Iraq is "within sight", Republican vice presidential contender Sarah Palin said on Friday.

Palin attributed the imminent success to the surge of troops sent to Iraq last year who have helped quell violence there.

She praised running mate John McCain's strong support for the surge at a time when it was highly unpopular and threatened to derail his campaign for the Republican nomination.

"He refused to break faith with the troops in Iraq who have now brought victory within sight," the Alaska governor told an enthusiastic crowd in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

"And as a mother of one of those troops that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief."

Palin, whose son will deploy to Iraq next week, attacked rival Barack Obama's opposition to the surge and warned that he would not protect the United States if he were to win the November 4 election.

"If the United States military had suffered defeat at the hands of al-Qaeda in Iraq our nation would have been less safe today and millions of innocent would have been left to a violent fate," Palin said.

"That tragedy would have happened if Barak Obama had gotten his way and Congress had cut off funding for the surge.

"It didn't happen though because John McCain was right and he had the vision and the will to see the surge through to victory."

Obama on Thursday said the surge had "succeeded beyond our wildest dreams" but argued he had shown better judgment than McCain because he opposed the war from its start.

He has committed to start troop withdrawals immediately if he is inaugurated president next January, and believes he can get most American soldiers out of Iraq within 16 months.

- AFP