Republican presidential hopeful Senator John McCain apologized Thursday for remarks that some critics interpreted as undervaluing the service of US troops in Iraq. Late Wednesday, while announcing his plan to run for the presidency on the late night comedy-variety Late Show on CBS television, McCain said about the Iraq war: "Americans are very frustrated and they have every right to be. We wasted a lot of our most precious treasure, which is American lives, over there."
The words provoked a quick backlash from Democrats who demanded an apology.
"Last evening, I referred to American casualties in Iraq as 'wasted'," McCain said in a statement Thursday.
"I should have used the word 'sacrificed' as I have in the past. No one appreciates and honors more than I do the selfless patriotism of American servicemen and women in the Iraq War," said McCain, a decorated Vietnam war hero.
"As I have said many times, I believe we have made many mistakes in the prosecution of the war. With a new commanding general and a new strategy, we are now trying to correct those mistakes, and I believe we have a realistic chance to succeed," he said.
His statement added: "That does not change the fact, however, that we have made many mistakes in the past, and we have paid a grievous price for those mistakes in the lives of the men and women who have died to protect our interests in Iraq and defend the rest of us from the even greater threat we would face if we are defeated there."
McCain, 70, who was held a prisoner of war in Hanoi during the Vietnam conflict, lost a bid for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination to current US President George W. Bush.
McCain has a reputation for independence, and favors a US troop buildup in Iraq despite widespread public opposition to deepening America's military involvement in Iraq.
He long has supported the unpopular Iraq war, arguing that more soldiers were needed to flush out insurgents, crush militias and train Iraqi forces -- a position shared by the president.
A survey Wednesday placed him well behind his main rival, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, in the race for the 2008 Republican nomination.
A fellow White House contender, Democratic Senator Barack Obama, expressed sympathy for McCain after having made an identical slip-up in speaking about US troops in Iraq last month.
Obama had said on the campaign trail in Iowa in February that the Iraq conflict had "wasted" more than 3,000 American soldiers' lives, but later apologized, calling the remark "a slip of the tongue," and said he did not mean to diminish "the enormous courage and sacrifice" US troops have shown in Iraq.
On Thursday, he praised McCain as a tireless advocate for those in the armed services.
"As somebody who had the same phrase in a speech, I think that nobody would question Senator McCain's dedication to our veterans," Obama told reporters Thursday.
