Democrats Push a Tactic to Shift Iraq Plan

[babylonsister]

Democrats Push a Tactic to Shift Iraq Plan


By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN and DAVID S. CLOUD
Published: September 15, 2007

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 — Now that President Bush and Gen. David H. Petraeus have charted their course for the Iraq war, Democrats in the Senate say one of their proposals aimed at shifting the president’s strategy is finally close to winning enough Republican support for a real chance at being approved. It would require that troops spend as much time at home as on their most recent tours overseas before being redeployed.

The proposal, by Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, has strong support from top Democrats, who say that the practical effect would be to add time between deployments and force General Petraeus to withdraw troops on a substantially swifter timeline than the one he laid out before Congress this week, and that it would protect troops from serving protracted and debilitating deployments.

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware and a candidate for president, called the proposal the “easiest way” for his Republican colleagues to change the war strategy on the same day that the Bush administration released a mixed report on the Iraqi government’s progress toward various goals.

The Pentagon sought on Friday to challenge the Democrats’ approach, with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates saying at a Pentagon news conference that it would only create further hardships for the military, including the prospect of even lengthier tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr. Gates called the proposal “well-intentioned,” but said it might require extending tours of units already in Iraq, calling up additional National Guard and Reserve troops, and making other adjustments that “would further stress the force and reduce its combat effectiveness.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/washington/15cong.html

[rodeodance]

1. The pent. will do all it can to keep the level Petraeus wants. My feeling is that

Gates is telling like it is.

[MasterDarkNinja]

2. Awesome, we need just 3 more votes in the senate to pass it

And the article says 1 republican has already said she regretted not voting for the bill last time, meaning we need just 2 more votes.