John McCain, the Republicans' choice for president, has said the US can succeed in Iraq, but warned against any hasty withdrawal of US troops. His address came ahead of a report to Congress this week from Gen David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq.
Senator McCain said: "We are no longer staring into the abyss of defeat."
He is at odds with Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who have said they would start withdrawing troops soon after taking office.
They are competing to be the Democratic Party's nominee to run for president in November's general election.
Speaking to veterans at the National World War I Museum, Mr McCain highlighted a sharp drop in violence in the months since President George W Bush's surge strategy of pouring extra troops into Iraq came into effect last year.
Promises
From June 2007 until Mr McCain's most recent visit to Iraq last month, violence in the country fell by 90%, and deaths of civilians and coalition forces fell by 70%, he said.
"The dramatic reduction in violence has opened the way for a return to something approaching normal political and economic life for the average Iraqi," he said.
The Arizona senator, who was one of the most prominent proponents of the "surge" strategy, said he did not want to keep US troops in Iraq any longer than necessary and characterised the Democrats' promises on withdrawal as "reckless".
"Our goal is an Iraq that no longer needs American troops," he said. "And I believe we can achieve that goal, perhaps sooner than many imagine."
"But I do not believe that anyone should make promises as a candidate for president that they cannot keep if elected."
Mr Obama fired back with a statement saying Mr McCain had been "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.
Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean added his criticism, saying: "Mr McCain's irresponsible political attacks are not a substitute for a workable plan for the future of Iraq, something McCain has consistently refused to outline."
Senate panels
On Tuesday, all three leading presidential hopefuls will be in Washington to question Gen Petraeus on US strategy in Iraq.
He and US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker are due to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee, of which Mrs Clinton and Mr McCain are members, and the Foreign Affairs panel, on which Mr Obama has a seat.
Gen Petraeus will also report directly to Mr Bush.
He is widely expected to tell Congress that further withdrawals of US troops should be put on hold after 20,000 return home by July.
Meanwhile, advisers to Mr McCain told the Associated Press news agency that he had raised more than $15m (£7.5m) in March for his general election campaign.
Mr Obama pulled in more than $40m over the same period and Mrs Clinton raised more than $20m.
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