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PHOENIX — U.S. Sen. John McCain said Monday he would have taken his tour of an Iraqi market last week even if he hadn't been accompanied by heavily armed U.S. soldiers.

The Republican presidential hopeful said he would have walked through the Bab al-Sharqi market in Baghdad without the military protection, but the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, had recommended the armed escort.

"I'm not notorious for being nervous about going anywhere," McCain said. "I'll gladly go almost anywhere in the world, under any circumstances, but I did respond and do what Gen. Petraeus asked me to do."

McCain and other members of a congressional delegation toured the market last week, traveling in armored military vehicles and wearing body armor during their hour-long excursion.

The market had been hit by bombings, including a February attack that killed 137 people.

The congressional delegation had said the trips were proof that security was improving in the capital. Some Iraqis in Baghdad had said McCain's account of the visit to the market didn't represent the current reality in the capital.

At a news conference Monday in Phoenix, McCain said he talked to many Iraqis in the market who told him that, while they still worried about a sniper operating there, they felt as though things were getting better.

"That place is being rebuilt today and is a functioning market," McCain said. "Of course it isn't entirely safe, but it certainly is a functioning market and progress is being made there."

McCain said a U.S.-Iraqi security plan was working, citing the establishment of security posts throughout the city and Sunni tribal efforts against al-Qaida in the western Anbar province.