Kucinich: Administration Should Be Ending Tours of Duty Instead of Extending Them

Ohio Democratic congressman Dennis Kucinich's congressional website http://kucinich.house.gov/ posted the following press release.

Kucinich: Administration Should Be Ending Tours of Duty Instead of Extending Them

Washington, Apr 11 - WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 11) — Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace today announced the Pentagon will extend tours of duty for all active duty soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan by three months.

“Our men and women in service have been paying the ultimate price in the Administration’s misguided Iraq policy for more than four years,” Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) said.

“We need to use the money that is in the pipeline to end the tours of duty for all soldiers indefinitely.

“The last thing our soldiers need right now is to be told they have three more months of service before they will be reunited with their families.

“This Administration’s falsifications for an illegal war have been responsible for the deaths of more than 3,200 Americans and approaching one million Iraqis.

“There is only one way to end the war and that is to stop the funding. Congress will have one more chance after President Bush vetoes the Iraq funding bill to end the war. Our troops, the American people and the Iraqi people cannot afford to wait.”