FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 22, 2006 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Brett Garner Office: (801) 983-7383 Cell: (801) 573-4759 ****PRESS RELEASE**** Ashdown Calls for Iraqi Vote, Not US Senate Vote "Cut through the slogans and put it to the Iraqis" SALT LAKE CITY, UT--US Senate candidate Pete Ashdown (D-UT), stated he would vote against both Democratic proposals to withdraw US troops, but would propose giving the Iraqi people the right of referendum on the US military presence in Iraq. Ashdown also criticized his opponent's continued politicization of the war in Iraq, quoting a Republican Senator's cautions that "Catchy political slogans debase the seriousness of war." "We need a solution in Iraq that will cut through the American partisanship to get what the Iraqi people really want," Ashdown said today. "I agree with Senator Chuck Hagel's comments that our war in Iraq 'should be taken more seriously than to simply retreat to focus-group tested buzz-words and phrases like cut-and-run.'" Ashdown reiterated his proposal that the Iraqi people should be given the freedom to choose whether to have American troops there or not. "Since October, when an anonymous American put forth this idea on my wiki, I have pushed for a solution that puts this thriving Iraqi democracy to the test." Ashdown has detailed his proposal that: "The answer to Iraq is simple: let the Iraqis vote on how long they want the US to stay, then do what they say. If they vote for us to leave, then the military has a mission: within sixty days, move to friendly countries such as Kuwait and Qatar to prevent Iranian invasion until the Iraqis can stop it on their own. If they say stay, then there is a mandate. Whether the result of this vote is a mission or a mandate, both should be executed with maximum transparency to the American people and the rest of the world." Quoting Senator Chuck Hagel's (R-NE) speech yesterday on the Senate floor, Ashdown criticized his Republican opponent in the upcoming election for politicizing the issue. "Senator Hagel put it bluntly and correctly: 'War should not be drug down into the political muck. America deserves better. Our men and women doing the fighting and dying...deserve better.'" "My proposal originated from democracy and supports democracy," Ashdown said. "Instead of the endless back and forth between politicians, it is a solution that can be acted upon today and will lay a path to peace." Ashdown will be speaking tomorrow at the AFL-CIO Endorsement Convention at the Utah Cultural Center, 1355 W 3100 S, West Valley. He is available for further comment at any time via the above information.