Senate Democrats Want Vote on Iraq Withdrawal Plan

Reuters reports that Senate "Democrats plan to offer a resolution in the Senate on Tuesday seeking a timetable for a phased withdrawal from Iraq."

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said on Sunday in an interview on CNN, "Three years and three months into the war, with all of the losses, the insurgency, the burgeoning civil war that's taking place, an open-ended time commitment is no longer sustainable. We want to see an end to this thing. We want to transition the mission. That isn't cutting and running."

"I don't know why we are so afraid to stand up and say, 'look, we want to see an end to this thing'," she said.

Feinstein argued an open-ended deployment was unsustainable for the U.S. military, which needed to be free to deal with growing problems in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

There are approximately 129,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and the military death toll since the 2003 invasion reached 2,500 last week. Administration officials have said they would like to withdraw some troops before November's midterm if conditions on the ground permit it, which could ease pressure on Republicans in their battle to retain control of Congress.

Reuters also noted the Senate vote at the end of last week claiming that it was "offered by Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. " The fact is, as reported by previous coverage in the MSM, that the vote was on a resolution that Senator Mitch McConnell put up, lifting the wording from Kerry's earlier resolution. As I reported here (and so too, did the MSM), it was decided on Thursday that there would be a debate on Kerry's plan this coming week.

Kerry spokeswoman, April Boyd said that Kerry "was angry that Republicans put to a vote his amendment, which was still being crafted and would work with colleagues this week on his amendment plans."

"John Kerry has been calling for a clear deadline for withdrawal and will not take the heat off the Iraqi leaders to do their job and stand up for their own country," she said.

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