Press Releases

McCain Supports a 100-Year War in Iraq at the Expense of Virginia’s Families

Posted by Greg on Tuesday, March 18

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 18, 2008

John McCain Supports a 100-Year War in Iraq at the Expense of Virginia's Families

RICHMOND - Tomorrow (Wednesday, March 19, 2008) marks the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. Despite his double talk on the campaign trail, John McCain has marched in lockstep with President Bush every step of the way, echoing the misleading rhetoric used to make the case for this war, parroting the president's rosy rhetoric even as Iraq was descending into civil war, and now arguing that American troops could be in Iraq for 100 years.

While John McCain has promised four more years of President Bush's failed policies, Virginians are feeling the cost of the war here at home-a war that has made us less safe while diverting critical resources from Virginia's priorities. [Wall Street Journal, 3/13/08] Since the beginning of the war, almost 4,000 brave men and women in uniform have lost their lives. Since September 2001, nearly 1.7 million U.S. troops have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. We Virginians alone have sent 4,774 members of the Army Guard and 1,053 Air National Guard members, making it more difficult for the Commonwealth to respond to natural disasters and crises in the state. [icasualties.org; Department of Defense, 1/31/08]

And as the economy continues to slide into what Alan Greenspan said could be the worst slow-down since World War II, John McCain's endless war in Iraq is draining economic resources that would help Virginia's working families, including so many with servicemen and women who are the heads of their households.

A recent study shows the Iraq war is now costing U.S. taxpayers $12 billion dollars a month-that means that for the cost of less than one week in Iraq, we could hire 51,000 police officers to make America safer; for four months in Iraq, we could get low-income kids health care for five years; and for just three weeks in Iraq, we could enroll 1.4 million kids in Head Start and get them the education they need. But instead of siding with Virginia's families, John McCain is choosing to support a war without end in Iraq. [AP, 3/10/08; Speaker Pelosi Fact Sheet, 8/29/07]

"John McCain is out of step with Virginia values," said Democratic Party of Virginia Chairman C. Richard Cranwell. "While Virginians want American troops to come back home from Iraq, McCain wants us there for 100 years even though everyone agrees the Iraqis have failed to make the political progress the surge was supposed to make possible. And though folks here in the Commonwealth want more police officers on their streets and health care for their kids, McCain wants a war that will break the bank and make our country less safe. That's not the kind of leadership Virginia's families want, and that's why voters here will reject John McCain's promise of a third Bush term in November."

Click here for a breakdown of the cost of the war.

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