John McCain, a likely contender in the 2008 presidential race to replace George Bush, turned on Donald Rumsfeld, the former Defence Secretary, last night, calling him one of the worst leaders in the history of the US military.

Mr McCain, a Republican Senator who supports the Iraq war and is currently exploring a run for the presidency, told an audience of 800 people at a retirement home in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, that America was counting the cost of Mr Rumsfeld's six-year tenure at the Pentagon.

"We are paying a very heavy price for the mismanagement -- that's the kindest word I can give you -- of Donald Rumsfeld, of this war,'' he said. "The price is very, very heavy and I regret it enormously."

Mr McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee and a veteran of the Vietnam War who was defeated by Mr Bush at the primary stage of the 2000 election added: "I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down... as one of the worst secretaries of defence in history."

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That blunt epitaph contrasted with Mr McCain's statement on the resignation of Mr Rumsfeld in November last year, a day after the Republican party lost control of both houses of Congress after an election that was seen to hinge on corruption and the unpopularity of the war. More than 3,100 members of the US military have been killed in Iraq.

Then Mr McCain conceded that "Secretary Rumsfeld and I have had our differences" but said: "He deserves Americans' respect and gratitude for his many years of public service."

In the early days of a long campaign in which he is expected to duel with Rudolph Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York, as the leading Republican candidate to succeed Mr Bush, Mr McCain has been setting out his policy positions on social issues important to conservative voters and Iraq, the central question of the presidential contest.

Although he is closely identified with the war, and repeatedly insists that fighting in Iraq is necessary to prevent terrorism from reaching America's borders, Mr McCain has chosen careful differences with the Bush Administration: recently he criticised Mr Bush's latest plan for a "surge" of 21,500 troops, saying that the increase is too small.

In the past he has also criticised policies and decisions directly linked to Mr Rumsfeld: for instance the overall size of the US invasion force in 2003, which Mr McCain has said was too slight. Last year he publicly clashed with the Pentagon and the White House when he insisted that an amendment explicitly prohibiting torture by American personnel was inserted into the defence budget.

Mr McCain addressed Mr Rumsfeld's performance in a speech that otherwise highlighted his conservative credentials. In 2000 he lost the primary election in South Carolina after vicious smear tactics by the Bush campaign, but last night he said that he held no grudges against the President and wanted Roe v Wade, the US Supreme Court decision that legalised abortion in America, to be overturned.

There was no immediate reaction from Mr Rumsfeld, who, since officially stepping down as Defence Secretary on December 18, remains an unpaid consultant at the Pentagon. According to the Washington Times, a staff of seven is helping him compile his papers in a set of transitional offices paid for by the Government.

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