Mitch says "stay the course for a hundred years in Iraq".

McConnell defends McCain on Iraq
By Ryan Alessi
RALESSI@HERALD-LEADER.COM

BEREA --U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said he expects his Republican colleague to win Kentucky in this fall's presidential race and defended Arizona Sen. John McCain's position that U.S. troops will be in Iraq for the foreseeable future.

"The key thing is not whether we have troops there but whether they're getting killed," he said, noting that Americans have been stationed in Japan and Germany since World War II.

He said it could be the same in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"The goal here in both countries is to leave behind a government that's relatively stable and pretty much in league with the better countries in that region," he said.

The Democratic presidential contenders, McConnell argued, are misguided by pushing for immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq.

"That would be very exciting ... but it would be a delusional thing to do. It would be a huge gamble," he said. * * *"