Iraq Debate Starts With Troop Focus

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http://public.cq.com/docs/cqt/news110-000002547133.html

Iraq Debate Starts With Troop Focus
By John M. Donnelly, CQ Staff

Opening the latest round of debate on the Iraq War, the Senate could vote as early as Tuesday on a measure that would mandate longer intervals between troop deployments.

The amendment to the defense authorization bill (HR 1585, S 1547), by Jim Webb, D-Va., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., is one of several that senators plan to offer that would redefine or end the U.S. mission there.

These latest congressional challenges to President Bush come as the White House prepares to report to Congress by week’s end on progress and setbacks in Iraq.

As the debate begins, the Congressional Research Service reported Monday that the average monthly cost of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan had been clocked at $12 billion. Two years ago, the CRS put the monthly figure at $7.7 billion.

The debate also comes as GOP support for Bush’s war strategy is weakening. In recent weeks, several senior Senate Republicans — including Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, George V. Voinovich of Ohio, and Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico — have broken with the White House on Iraq and urged Bush to begin redeploying U.S. forces.

“A growing number of Republicans are now speaking against the failed strategy in Iraq, and that’s good,” said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. “And these Republican defections are apparently leading the White House to consider changing its mission. That’s good.”

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