LONDON -- Sen. John McCain is in town today and popped round 10 Downing Street this morning for a sitdown with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The second-most famous address after 1600.

Reporters and photographers started queueing up more than an hour before his arrival at 8:45 a.m. local time. Of course, the sky immediately began to spit a cold drizzle on the press scrum, busy shuffling on the sidewalk to keep the circulation flowing to their freezing feet.

The British media was delighted just to see the door. Look, it's opening! Awww, it's closing again.

With Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent (and Corrector in Chief), and Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, in tow, Mr. McCain arrived in his rented Mercedes step van right on time and wooshed through the famous door.

Right on schedule, the Arizona senator stepped out onto the road for a brief press conference with reporters (many of whom kneeled on the street to stay out of TV camera shots).

Asked by The Washington Times if he would have made the same decision as President Bush five years ago when he invaded Iraq, Mr. McCain sanctions had broken down and Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein acknowledged after he was captured that "he had the operational network to renew his effort to acquire weapons of mass destruction."

The presumptive Republican presidential candidate said Americans and Britons have grown frustrated with the slow pace of progress as the aftermath of the war was "mishandled." But he added that withdrawing U.S. troops now -- as both his Democratic opponents say they will do if elected -- would hand a victory to al Qaeda.

"That will be, frankly, a very big issue in this campaign -- whether we withdraw, hand al Qaeda a win and announce to the world that they have won and things collapse there, or do we see this strategy through to success?" he said.

"I believe that if we had done what others are advocating, it would have had disastrous consequences for the United States, chaos, and further sacrifice on the part of the American people."

Mr. Lieberman and Mr. Graham mostly stood by, looking serious.

Just for the record, 10 Downing Street is a pretty nondescript building, black brick, no flourishes. I single officer stood guard outside the door, which magically opens from the inside whenever someone approaches. And from the look of the street, a lot of visitors spit their gum out just before they head into the prime minister's offices.

-- Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times