US Democrats vow to fight on for Iraq withdrawal bill
Friday, July 20, 2007
DEMOCRATS vowed to force votes on Iraq withdrawal plans "again and again" after US Senate Republicans thwarted their latest bid to wrest control of the unpopular war from President George W Bush.
After a rare all-night debate, which saw pull-down beds and pizzas brought into Congress' hallowed halls, Bush escaped with his Iraq strategy intact, after his Senate allies blocked the latest Democratic troop pull-out timelines.
"They are more interested in protecting the president than protecting our troops," said a frustrated Senate Democratic Majority leader Harry Reid.
Senators voted by 52 to 47 to move to a final vote on the plan, well short of the 60-vote supermajority needed to move ahead on the measure, which was attached to a defence policy bill.
Similar to a previous Democratic gambit which Bush has already vetoed, the plan required troop withdrawals to start within 120 days and for most US combat soldiers to be out of Iraq by the end of April.
In the end, only four Republicans deserted Bush and voted with the Democrats.
Party statesmen like Senators Richard Lugar and John Warner, who last week called on Bush to come up with an alternative strategy to his current troop surge plan, could not bring themselves to vote for withdrawal timelines.
The failure of the latest Democratic initiative means Bush will likely retain unchecked control of the Iraq war until at least September, when US commander in Iraq General David Petraeus will deliver a key progress report on the latest strategy to surge nearly 30,000 troops into the war-wracked nation.
Democrats justified the overnight debate as an attempt to spotlight Republican "obstruction" tactics, and under pressure from their anti-war support base, they also vowed not to rest until they have got troops home.
"We have a lot of other arrows in our quiver, and our quiver's filled with the wishes of the American people," Reid said.
Senator Chuck Schumer promised: "we're not going to stop till we get to 60" votes. Senator Richard Durbin pledged to force the issue "again and again" until Republican support for the war dies.
But Republican Senator Arlen Specter branded the marathon debate "a colossal waste of time" as Democrats had known they would not have the votes to make the measure stick.
Senator John McCain dismissed the sleepless night as "an exhibition" cooked up to amuse the press, swapping "theatrics" for statesmanship.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an appearance on Capitol Hill as the vote approached, shuttling between meetings with lawmakers, in an apparent bid to bolster the Republican vote.
A similar bill passed in the House of Representatives last week and Bush has vowed to veto it. Under the plan, an unspecified number of remaining US troops in Iraq would have had a limited role: battling terrorists, protecting US installations and training Iraqi troops. The White House welcomed the vote.
"We take seriously people's disapproval of the war," said Bush's spokesman Tony Snow.
Moments after the vote, Reid pulled the defence bill off the floor, saying Republican delaying tactics made it impossible to move forward.AFP
After a rare all-night debate, which saw pull-down beds and pizzas brought into Congress' hallowed halls, Bush escaped with his Iraq strategy intact, after his Senate allies blocked the latest Democratic troop pull-out timelines.
"They are more interested in protecting the president than protecting our troops," said a frustrated Senate Democratic Majority leader Harry Reid.
Senators voted by 52 to 47 to move to a final vote on the plan, well short of the 60-vote supermajority needed to move ahead on the measure, which was attached to a defence policy bill.
Similar to a previous Democratic gambit which Bush has already vetoed, the plan required troop withdrawals to start within 120 days and for most US combat soldiers to be out of Iraq by the end of April.
In the end, only four Republicans deserted Bush and voted with the Democrats.
Party statesmen like Senators Richard Lugar and John Warner, who last week called on Bush to come up with an alternative strategy to his current troop surge plan, could not bring themselves to vote for withdrawal timelines.
The failure of the latest Democratic initiative means Bush will likely retain unchecked control of the Iraq war until at least September, when US commander in Iraq General David Petraeus will deliver a key progress report on the latest strategy to surge nearly 30,000 troops into the war-wracked nation.
Democrats justified the overnight debate as an attempt to spotlight Republican "obstruction" tactics, and under pressure from their anti-war support base, they also vowed not to rest until they have got troops home.
"We have a lot of other arrows in our quiver, and our quiver's filled with the wishes of the American people," Reid said.
Senator Chuck Schumer promised: "we're not going to stop till we get to 60" votes. Senator Richard Durbin pledged to force the issue "again and again" until Republican support for the war dies.
But Republican Senator Arlen Specter branded the marathon debate "a colossal waste of time" as Democrats had known they would not have the votes to make the measure stick.
Senator John McCain dismissed the sleepless night as "an exhibition" cooked up to amuse the press, swapping "theatrics" for statesmanship.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an appearance on Capitol Hill as the vote approached, shuttling between meetings with lawmakers, in an apparent bid to bolster the Republican vote.
A similar bill passed in the House of Representatives last week and Bush has vowed to veto it. Under the plan, an unspecified number of remaining US troops in Iraq would have had a limited role: battling terrorists, protecting US installations and training Iraqi troops. The White House welcomed the vote.
"We take seriously people's disapproval of the war," said Bush's spokesman Tony Snow.
Moments after the vote, Reid pulled the defence bill off the floor, saying Republican delaying tactics made it impossible to move forward.AFP
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