Voinovich returns from Iraq and he's not talkin'

Three liberal anti-war groups unveiled television ads and a billboard today calling on Sen. George Voinovich to vote to end the Iraq war.

The attacks on Voinovich just as the Ohio senator is returning from a four-day trip to Iraq, Germany and Kuwait with fellow Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, both of Tennessee, and David Vitter of Louisiana. Voinovich just got back last night. It was his first trip to Iraq.

While there, the senators met with Army Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, visited with soldiers and traveled to a combat outpost to meet with Sunni and Shiite leaders.

Voinovich, however, has declined to talk to the media about his trip until next week, spokesman Chris Paulitz told The Enquirer on Wednesday.

"He's going to spend some time and develop some thoughts on this," Paulitz said.

Voinovich got national attention in June when he said in a letter to President Bush that the U.S. should disengage from Iraq, including the gradual withdrawal of troops. He has been criticized, however, for voting against Democrat-sponsored measures in the Senate to force an immediate troop withdrawal.

"Talk is cheap," said Jeremy Funk, spokesman for Americans United For Change, which is paying for the ads. "We haven’t seen any votes to back up his comments."

The TV ads will run in Cincinnati starting today and continuing until the end of next week.

Additionally, the "Voinovich Double Talk Express" bus, sponsored by Americans Against Escalation in Iraq and Progress Ohio, is on a three-day statewide tour of Ohio, with a stop at Cincinnati City Hall this afternoon. The bus is carrying a giant billboard accusing Voinovich of being "on vacation" while U.S. soldiers serve multiple rotations in Iraq.

Brian Rothenberg, executive director of Progress Ohio, said the group didn’t know Voinovich would be returning from Iraq the same time as their bus tour.

"Making one quick trip in and out in a day does not do as much as he could do with his vote in the Senate," Rothenberg said.

Meanwhile, Alexander and Corker told reporters in a joint conference call Wednesday that a strategy devised by Petraeus to work with local leaders and win them over to the U.S. cause has shown "clear success, province by province."

Also during the trip, the lawmakers visited injured soldiers at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and met with civilian contractors and officials in Kuwait.

Voinovich’s trip — and the ads attacking his position on the war — come less than a month before Patraeus is expected to brief Congress on the progress in Iraq.