NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday March 18, 2008

John McCain supports a 100-year war in Iraq at the expense of Arizona's families

As the country marks the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, John McCain promises that we may have 95 more years to go.

Since the beginning of the war, McCain has marched in lockstep with President Bush every step of the way, echoing the misleading rhetoric used to make the case for war, parroting the president’s rosy outlook even as Iraq was descending into civil war, and now arguing that American troops could be in Iraq for 100 years.

“John McCain is out of step with Arizona values,” said Maria Weeg, executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party. “While Arizonans want American troops withdrawn from Iraq, McCain wants us there for another 100 years. Arizonans wants health care for their kids, a rebound in the housing market and safe streets, but McCain wants a war that will break the bank – and continue to make our country less safe. That’s not the kind of leadership Arizona families want, and that’s why Arizona voters will reject John McCain’s promise of a third Bush term.”

Even though the United States committed far more troops to the country in the last year, Iraqis have failed to take advantage of the surge and haven’t made political progress.

While John McCain has promised four more years of President Bush’s failed policies, Arizonans are feeling the cost of the war here at home. Since the beginning of the war, almost 4,000 brave men and women in uniform have lost their lives, including 115 from Arizona. (http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/veterans/azwardead.html) Since September 2001, nearly 1.7 million U.S. troops have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, including more than 7,000 members of Arizona’s Guard and Reserves, making it more difficult for Arizona to respond to natural disasters and crises in the state. (icasualties.org; Department of Defense, 1/31/08) In fact, National Guard troops in Arizona are spread thin as they patrol both the border with Mexico and are deployed to Iraq.

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 Arizona’s working families. 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 a 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. (AP, 3/10/08; Speaker Pelosi Fact Sheet, 8/29/07)