McCain to visit Israel, London and Paris next week

By Steve Holland

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Republican candidate John McCain set plans on Monday to visit Israel, Britain and France next week in a trip likely to play up the national security credentials he hopes will carry him into the White House.

McCain, the likely nominee to represent his party against the Democratic candidate in the November election, will start his trip on March 18 with a visit to Jerusalem to discuss the Middle East, which he said he would focus on if elected.

"Absolutely, particularly given the level of tensions, the exchange of fire across Israel's border aimed at innocent people. There's Hamas, a terrorist organization now governing Gaza, ... considerable unrest in southern Lebanon. There's very big issues that need to be addressed," he told reporters in Phoenix.

He will visit London on March 19 and 20 and go to Paris on March 21, said his Senate office in Washington.

The Arizona senator will be joined by two stalwart Senate supporters, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-Independent who was the Democrats' vice presidential nominee in 2000, and South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.

McCain has clinched the Republican presidential nomination and is free to travel abroad while his Democratic rivals, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, fight over the Democratic nomination. The presidential election is on November 4.

The 71-year-old McCain, who said he got a clean bill of health from his doctor after a physical checkup on Monday, is staking his claim on the presidency on his national security experience, and his foreign trip will play into that theme.

McCain told reporters on his flight from Phoenix to St. Louis that he would like to see more NATO participation in Afghanistan.  Continued...