Dean: 'McCain wants to stay in Iraq'

WASHINGTON, May 4 (UPI) -- Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Sunday that U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is determined to keep U.S. troops in Iraq.

The Democratic Party head said on "Fox News Sunday" the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has said on video he wants U.S. troops to remain in Iraq for years to come.

"John McCain wants to stay in Iraq," Dean told host Chris Wallace.

"What John McCain said is his plan is -- to deal with Iraq is to stay there maybe for 100 years, whether it's an occupational force or whatever the force is."

The Democratic politician also accused McCain of planning to extend President George Bush's tax cuts.

"And what McCain is offering is four more years of George Bush. He wants to extend the Bush tax cuts," Dean said. "Of course, he was opposed to that two years ago."

While Dean did say he would like to have a final Democratic presidential nominee before long, he did recognize one advantage of the pitched battle in his party.

"I would like to have a nominee soon, but there are also some very good things going on," he said. "Thirty-five million people have voted. We have all those folks in our voter file."