White House hopeful Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is accusing Democrats of "misrepresenting" remarks he's previously made about U.S. troops being in Iraq for a century or more. McCain clarified Monday that the war in Iraq would be over in the near future.

"My friends, the war will be over soon," McCain said at a townhall-style meeting, "...although the insurgency will go on for years and years and years, but it will be handled by the Iraqis and not by us."

In early January, McCain told a crowd that U.S. troops could remain in Iraq for "maybe 100" years to ensure that Americans aren't being harmed. He later told a journalist that a thousand, and even a million, years in Iraq were fine with him.

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McCain's assessment Monday that the Iraq war would soon end harkened back to a speech by President Bush on May 1, 2003 aboard an aircraft carrier in which the president declared major military operations in Iraq to be over with an enormous "Mission Accomplished" banner behind him. Thousands of Americans soldiers, as well as countless Iraqis, have been killed or wounded in the time since.

Earlier Monday, McCain told reporters on his campaign bus that to win the White House in November he had to convince Americans that U.S. policy in Iraq is succeeding. If he can't, continued McCain, "then I lose. I lose." He quickly retracted the remark.