McCain reminds voters of Obama’s ‘bitter’ gaffe

He continued: “I hate war. No one hates war more than the veteran, because no one feels more deeply the loss a comrade than a veteran, so I will at the end of four years, bring the peace to America.”

Mr. McCain vowed that most U.S. forces will leave Iraq within his first term as president because the war is being won as a result of the counterinsurgency strategy implemented by Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, U.S. commander in Iraq and author of the troop-surge plan that tamped down the country’s rampant violence this year.

“We have succeeded, it’s not that we are succeeding, we have succeeded and we are winning,” he said. “And we have other challenges.”

The declaration of success in Iraq was punctuated by rousing applause.

“That is one of the big differences between myself and Senator Obama,” he said, noting that Mr. Obama voted against funding the troops. “Senator Obama said the surge … wouldn’t work, couldn’t work and, incredibly, still fails to acknowledge that the surge succeeded.”