Victory vital in Iraq: US Republican hopefuls

SIMI VALLEY(CALIFORNIA): A packed field of Republican White House hopefuls have vowed to pursue victory in Iraq and castigated anti-war Democrats, in their first head-to-head showdown of the 2008 campaign.

The 10 declared candidates on Thursday chose to spare beleaguered President George W Bush from a torrent of criticism and warned Iran represented a dire threat, as the Islamic Republic was accused of pursuing a 'nightmare' nuclear quest.

Nine months before first votes were cast in the party nominating process, the candidates laid claim to the legacy of Republican icon Ronald Reagan, as they met at the late former president's library.

Senator John McCain, one of the heavyweight Republicans chasing frontrunner former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, savaged Democrats in Congress, saying their bid to force the withdrawal of US soldiers from Iraq equalled surrender.

"We must win in Iraq. If we withdraw, there will be chaos, there will be genocide and they will follow us home," he said, in the debate which followed last week's similar encounter among Democrats.

He also said it was worth spending billions to catch Osama bin Laden, saying: "I'll follow (him) to the gates of hell."

McCain came closest to attacking Bush, saying the war was mismanaged though he has been an outspoken supporter of the president's strategy to send nearly 30,000 more troops into Iraq.

"The war was terribly mismanaged," McCain said, "and we now have to fix a lot of the mistakes that were made."

Texas congressman Ron Paul, the toughest critic of the war in the debate, questioned the administration's motives.

"Don't get into it for political reasons or pretend the Iraqis were a national threat to us," he said.

But a leading candidate, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who is vying to be the first Mormon US president, warned of regional chaos if American troops left Iraq too swiftly.

"I want to get our troops home as soon as I possibly can ... if we leave in the wrong way, the Iranians could seize the Shiite south," he said.

He also insisted that Osama bin Laden "is going to have to pay or he will die."

Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, considered an outside chance for the nomination added: "It's important that we finish the job, and do it right, rather than some day have to go back and do it over."

The candidates faced off in the shadow of a gleaming airliner once used as Air Force One by Reagan, who died in 2004 aged 93, in front of an audience including Hollywood tough guy turned California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

While no one appeared to separate themselves from the field, there were no campaign-ending gaffes either, in the first key test of the Republican race.

Specific policy proposals were also largely absent.