McCain: Nations still look to U.S. to lead

PHOENIX, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Free nations still look to the United States for leadership because they know its strength is the "greatest force of good," Sen. John McCain said Tuesday.

Comments that the United States is losing its place as the free world's leader "tends to pass or quiet down when global threats and dangers appear," McCain said in remarks before the 90th annual American Legion National Convention in Phoenix.

"In times of trouble, free nations of the world still look to America for leadership, because they know the strength of America remains the greatest force for good on this earth," he said.

Discussion about the United States' place on the world stage is "more than an academic debate," said McCain, poised to be named the Republican presidential nominee next week in St. Paul, Minn. "For the sake of our own security, and the defense of our values in the affairs of the world, American leadership is critical."

McCain chided his likely Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, for having "suggested that the end of the Cold War proved that there was, 'no challenge too great for a world that stands as one'" when delivering a speech in Berlin.

"The Cold War ended not because the world stood 'as one,' but because the great democracies came together, bound together by sustained and decisive American leadership," McCain said.

"The next president must bring to office a clear-eyed view of our nation's role in the world," McCain said, "as the defender of the oppressed and a force for peace."