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Senate Republicans on Wednesday scuttled a Democratic proposal ordering troop withdrawals from Iraq in a showdown that capped an all-night debate on the war. The 52-47 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to cut off debate under Senate rules. It was a sound defeat for Democrats who say the U.S. military campaign, in its fifth year and requiring 158,000 troops, cannot tame the sectarian violence in Iraq. As members cast their votes, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hurried between private meetings with lawmakers in their Capitol Hill offices to make the administration's case for the war.
The Democratic proposal, by Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., would have required President Bush to start bringing home troops within 120 days and complete the pullout by April 30, 2008. Under the bill, an unspecified number of troops could remain behind to conduct a narrow set of missions: counterterrorism, protecting U.S. assets and training Iraqi security forces. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19797695/

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The White House faced fresh political peril yesterday in the form of a new intelligence assessment that raised sharp questions about the success of its counterterrorism strategy and judgment in making Iraq the focus of that effort. The release of a new National Intelligence Estimate concludes that al-Qaeda "has protected or regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability" by reestablishing a haven in Pakistan and reconstituting its top leadership. The report also notes that al-Qaeda has been able "to recruit and indoctrinate operatives, including for Homeland attacks," by associating itself with an Iraqi subsidiary. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/17/AR2007071702007.html?nav=hcmodule

A series of roadside bombs exploded early Wednesday in separate areas of east Baghdad, killing 11 people and wounding more than a dozen, police said. The U.S. military reported three more American soldiers had died in action in the Iraqi capital. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19820391/

The U.S. command claims that the highest-ranking Iraqi in the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq has been arrested, adding that information from him indicates the group's foreign-based leadership wields considerable influence over the Iraqi chapter. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12342627/

A new poll reveals a clear leader in the Republican presidential race: nobody. The AP-Ipsos survey shows nearly a quarter of Republicans are unwilling to back any of the top candidates. A plurality of respondents go for "none of the above." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19803355/

If you are the type of person who absolutely cannot wait another day to find out what happens to Harry Potter, well, the truth is out there. Photographs of what appear to be all 784 or 756 or 768 pages of the final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, have been widely posted on the web - or so people say. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22096814-2,00.html