In 2002, Mitch McConnell handed President Bush a blank check for operations in Iraq – a war that was ill-conceived, ill-advised and terribly mismanaged. We have now been in Iraq longer than we were in World War II. To date, there have been more than 4,000 American military casualties. Over 30,000 U.S. soldiers have been injured. By the end of 2007, the war in Iraq cost American taxpayers more than $500 billion. Kentucky’s share of the bill: $3.5 billion – money that could have been invested in our economy, built 358 new elementary schools, provided 593,000 Kentucky students with college scholarships, delivered health care benefits to 970,000 Kentuckians, built miles of new roads and bridges or saved thousands of homeowners from foreclosure.

Today, Mitch McConnell still supports President Bush’s never ending war in Iraq, while continuing to play partisan political games and obstructing every opportunity to reach a bipartisan plan to end the war once and for all in Iraq.

Greg Fischer believes it’s time to bring our soldiers home from Iraq in a swift, safe and responsible manner. Our brave men and women have done everything we have asked of them and are still fighting a courageous fight. They put their lives on the line for us everyday and we owe them and their families an end to this war. Washington has failed them.

Although Greg will fight to begin a responsible draw down of our forces in Iraq and end the war, he knows we need to refocus our efforts in Afghanistan where Al Qaeda and Taliban are experiencing a resurgence.  That’s where Osama Bin Laden and the real war against terrorism is and needs to be fought.

On the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, Greg endorsed A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq. Information about it can be found at www.responsibleplan.com