In a scathing condemnation of the Bush administration's plan to return troop levels to just above their August 2006 pre-surge levels by August 2008, leading Libertarian Presidential candidate George Phillies called the plan "unacceptable to a majority of Americans: We Americans want complete withdrawal from Iraq now."

The statement, published on the Phillies website http://phillies2008.org Friday afternoon, likewise denounced House Minority leader Boehner's statement that nearly 4,000 dead and another 30,000 wounded is "a small price to pay” as “an insult to every American, especially every serviceman."

Phillies observed that Boehner forgot to include among the dead the half million Iraqi war fatalities, and ignored the two and a half million refugees who have fled to neighboring Syria and elsewhere.

Why did we pay this 'small price?'" the Massachusetts Libertarian hopeful asked.  "American support for the invasion of Iraq was built on a foundation of lies and insinuations:   Lies that we were enforcing UN Resolutions.  Lies that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Insinuations that Saddam Hussein supported Al Qaida and that he was involved in 9/11.  All the Bush Republican Party's reasons for starting their war turned out to be false."

The statement goes on to castigate the Democratic party, the opposition party "so craven that when George Bush says 'Jump!' his alleged opponents ask only, 'How high?' "

"As President, I'll bring our brave soldiers and their equipment home as fast as possible," Dr. Phillies said. "But Americans who want peace have no alternative.  In 2008, they can vote for more war, or they can vote Libertarian!"