Today is the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war.
“Today marks the solemn anniversary of an ill-conceived and mismanaged war – one that has taken the lives of too many American soldiers and too many Iraqi citizens,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chairman Joe Wineke said. “As of today, we’ve spent five years too many in Iraq, and even though the American people are ready to end this war, John McCain would make it 100 more.”
Despite his double talk on the campaign trail, John McCain has marched in lockstep with President Bush throughout the war – echoing the misleading rhetoric used to make the case for 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, Wisconsinites 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 87 from Wisconsin (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 3/18/08).
“Wisconsinites want this war to end. Too many brave men and women have died. Too many families have had to say goodbye to their loved ones being deployed,” Wineke said. “President Bush misled us into this war, and if John McCain has his way, there will be no end in sight.
“John McCain is out of step with Wisconsin values. While Wisconsinites want American troops withdrawn from Iraq, McCain wants us there for 100 years, even though everyone agrees the Iraqis have failed to make the political progress the surge was supposed to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 Wisconsinites want more police officers on their streets and health care for their kids, McCain wants to continue a war that will break the bank and make our country less safe. That’s not the kind of leadership Wisconsin’s families want, and that’s why voters in Wisconsin will reject John McCain’s promise of a third Bush term in November.”
