My position is a responsible one: the troops must be brought home now. It is the best solution for our country and for Iraq. I reject the myths that have been promoted against proponents of withdrawal.

My opponent voted for the war and supports the idea that there is a "winning" strategy for the war.

My positions are consistent with what the majority of New Yorkers believe. My opponent is out-of-step with New Yorkers throughout the state.

The Iraq war has cost the lives of more than 2,500 American men and women, and many more thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women and children.

More than 100 soldiers from New York State alone have died, and many more have been wounded and their lives forever scarred.

The war has cost the country hundreds of billions of dollars—more than $250 billion and counting. That’s more than $700 for every man, woman and child in America—money that could have paid for health care for millions of children, better schools for our children and job opportunities for many Americans trying to pay the bills.

$200 billion could have covered every person without health insurance in America. We could have hired 3.5 million elementary school teachers or built 24,000 new schools for those teachers. Or provided almost 40 million scholarships for university students.

The war in Iraq was a war of choice, not a war of necessity.

I do not believe the U.S. should embark on wars of choice. As Senator Robert Byrd, the dean of the U.S. Senate said when he tried to stop the rush to war, the U.S. should not embrace a culture of pre-emptive war.

We should not attack countries that pose no threat to the United States.

And, as distasteful and despicable a tyrant that Saddam Hussein was, he posed no imminent threat to the United States. You didn’t need intelligence to know that the war was unnecessary. That is just an excuse used today by politicians who should have known better—or voted for the war for reasons that, today, should not earn them a single vote from anyone who opposed the war.

Had I been on the floor of the United States Senate the day of the vote, I would have joined with Senators Byrd, Barbara Boxer, Ted Kennedy and other courageous senators who voted NO.

The war, supported by my opponent, has made this country less safe.

Vote For What You Believe In!