The U.S. Republican Party's presumptive nominee for president, Senator John McCain, says Iraq's military performed "pretty well" during its recent assault in the southern Iraqi city of Basra despite mixed results of the battle. McCain made the comment in an interview with Fox News Sunday. He said such an assault would have been unthinkable just nine months ago.Hundreds of people were killed during last month's street battles between extremist Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and Iraqi and foreign forces. McCain's comment comes just days before the U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, is to give an assesement of the war before the U.S. Congress.