Amendment to Limit Troop Deployments Faces Long Odds

[babylonsister]

Amendment to Limit Troop Deployments Faces Long Odds

An amendment to mandate minimum rest times for U.S. troops between deployments faced long odds Wednesday after an influential Republican senator switched his position and said he would vote against it.

John W. Warner, R-Va., a senior Armed Services Committee member who voted for the amendment by Jim Webb, D-Va., when it last came to the floor in July, said he had changed his mind. He said the ranks of military specialists are so thin in many positions that commanders on the ground would be seriously hobbled by mandatory “dwell times” between deployments.

Bush administration officials have been furiously lobbying moderate Republican senators to oppose the measure.

The Webb amendment would require military personnel to be given at least as much time at home as they spend deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. National Guard and reserve forces would have to be allowed three years at home for each one at war.

more...

http://public.cq.com/docs/cqm/cqmidday110-000002587478.html

[w8liftinglady]

1. I have the letter in my head-vote this down,you bastards,and get the wrath of the masses.

[babylonsister]

2. They obviously don't care about 'the masses', or the soldiers. nt

[atreides1]

5. No they don't

With the Republicans, loyalty to the party and the party leader is first and foremost, sound familiar?

Warner is a chicken s**t has been, and one would have thought that since he announced his plans to retire he would have at last found some courage, but that was too much to hope I guess. I'll be glad when Mark Warner wins that seat!

[pwb]

3. Republicans continue to obstruct the will of the majority.

This 60 vote rule for cloture is a fucking joke.

[judaspriestess]

4. another sad day in America