Baghdad Visit Begins Mccain's Week of Talks With Foreign Leaders

John McCain, the Republican nominee for November's US presidential election, made an unannounced visit to Iraq yesterday, at the start of a week-long visit to the Middle East and Europe that will culminate with meetings with Gordon Brown and David Cameron in London.

McCain, 71, is meeting military and political leaders in Iraq, including the head of the American mission in the country, General David Petraeus. He stressed that he was making his eighth visit to the country on US senatorial business, though by meeting national leaders in Iraq, Jordan, Israel, France and Britain it is clear that he will be using the opportunity to present himself as a world statesman.

McCain has made it abundantly clear that he will focus on the security issue as a way of setting himself apart from his Democratic party presidential rivals, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. As a vocal supporter of the surge in troop numbers to Iraq, he will argue that his stance is the best way of dealing with the insurgency and withdrawing US troops safely.

He told reporters he remained concerned about al-Qaida's potential to disrupt Iraq. "We have had great success with the surge, but to think they're not capable of orchestrating really strong attacks is an underestimation of the enemy."

He will meet King Abdullah of Jordan in Amman, Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, in Jerusalem and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, in Paris. In London he will stage a fund raising dinner at the ancestral home of the late Princess Diana, Spencer House. Invitations will be reserved for American citizens, as US campaign finance laws forbid donations from foreigners to presidential campaigns.

He has already been making references to his affinity to Britain. A recent campaign advert shows Winston Churchill making his "we will fight them on the beaches" speech, implying that McCain is in the mould of Britain's wartime leader.

As McCain kicked off his trip, the Democratic contenders for the presidential nomination continued to cat fight over issues of race and security. Barack Obama spent much of the weekend disassociating himself from the words of his mentor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the former pastor of Obama's Chicago church. Old footage of Wright's sermons played on cable television recently showed the pastor suggesting on the first Sunday after September 11 2001 that America had brought the attacks on itself. "We supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is brought right back to our own front yards," Wright said.

Wright has been a seminal figure in Obama's life, officiating at his wedding and baptizing his daughters. Obama said: "If all I knew were those statements I saw on television, I would be shocked."

The Obama campaign announced that Wright had resigned from its religious leadership committee.