Democrats reject general's Iraq plan

[ProSense]

Democrats reject general's Iraq plan

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer 10 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A day before President Bush's war address, Senate Democrats rejected a four-star general's recommendation to keep some 130,000 troops in Iraq through next summer and sought legislation that would limit the mission of U.S. forces.

Their proposal was not expected to set a deadline to end the war, as many Democrats want, but restrict troops to narrow objectives: training Iraq's military and police, protecting U.S. assets and fighting terrorists, Democratic party officials told The Associated Press.

The goal is to attract enough Republicans to break the 60-vote threshold in the Senate needed to end a filibuster. Democrats have proved unable to do that since they took control of Congress eight months ago.

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At issue in talks among Reid and Senate Democrats was how far they should go in forcing a new mission for troops without losing support from various political sides, according to congressional aides familiar with the meeting in Reid's office.

If the legislation were nonbinding and only urged Bush to refocus the mission, the bill could lose support from more liberal Democrats such as Sens. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., John Kerry, D-Mass., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

more

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[madrchsod]

1. i have to hand it to the whitehouse and the democratic party

the democrats reject the generals "plan" while bush sits back and smiles...it`s not the "general`s plan" it`s bush`s plan and the democrats do`t have the -whatever you may call it-to call it bush`s plan...BRILLANT!

opps....at least john has got it right....

[ProSense]

3. Seem everyone is happy to

focus on Petraeus, who isn't the president and doesn't have a vote in Congress.

[Selatius]

2. The resolution will be non-binding to get as many votes as possible, I guess.

This would force Feingold, Kerry, et al. to abandon the resolution.

[sandnsea]

4. Target the Roadblock Republicans

Smith, Coleman, Hagel, Sununu, Snowe, Collins, Warner, Specter, Lugar, Voinovich.

[madrchsod]

5. yes

that is something the moveon folks should have done...maybe ask them why they support 2 billion a week while our nation sinks into recession

[ProSense]

6. Kick! n/t