Foster on Oberweis and McCain: “We Need a New Direction in Iraq, Not More of the Same"
Will Oberweis Keep Us in Iraq for 100 More Years?
(Geneva, IL) – Democratic Congressional candidate Bill Foster released the following statement today in response to Senator John McCain’s visit to the Plantation at Rich Harvest Farms on behalf of Republican Jim Oberweis:
“This election presents a clear choice: change or more of the same. I respect Senator McCain and his decades of service for this country, but when it comes to Iraq, I think Senator McCain, President Bush, and Jim Oberweis are flat wrong.
“Like George Bush, Jim Oberweis says we need to stay the course in Iraq. Under his plan, American troops will stay in Iraq until 2018 and beyond. That’s not a new direction—that’s Bush’s Iraq policies for another generation.
“We need a new direction for Iraq, not more of the same. Our troops have done their job—it’s time to redeploy from Iraq so the Iraqis will stand up for their own country.”
Foster is endorsed by the only Iraq War veteran in Congress—Rep. Patrick Murphy.
Oberweis: Staying in Iraq for 10 years or more is “the right approach.” During his announcement speech for Congress, Oberweis stated that the U.S. would start bringing troops home within six months because military leaders would recommend it. He said that at least some troops would need to remain for 10 years or more as Iraqis start taking over responsibility for their country, arguing, “that’s the right approach.” [Chicago Daily Herald, 8/26/07]
McCain: Spending “a Hundred Years” in Iraq is “fine with me.” McCain interrupted a voter during a town hall meeting in New Hampshire telling him we should "make it a hundred" years in Iraq and "that would be fine with me." After the town hall meeting, he told a reporter "that U.S. troops could be in Iraq for 'a thousand years' or 'a million years,' as far as he was concerned." [McCain, Derry, NH town hall meeting , 1/3/08; Concord Monitor, 1/5/08]