And so at least one house of Congress will continue to keep faith with America's troops in the field -- despite the fact that seven White Flag Republicans joined the Copperhead Caucus on this one.

Senate Republicans today blocked a floor vote on a House-passed resolution that expresses disapproval of President Bush's plan to send thousands of additional U.S. troops to Iraq, as a procedural motion to cut off debate on the measure fell short of the 60 votes needed.

It was the second time this month that minority Republicans successfully filibustered a nonbinding resolution opposing the troop buildup.

Senators voted 56-34 to invoke cloture and proceed to a floor vote on the resolution, with seven Republicans joining all the chamber's Democrats in calling for an end to the debate. But the motion fell four votes short of the threshold needed under Senate rules.

Most Republicans objected to a rule barring amendments to the resolution and demanded a vote on a separate measure, introduced by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), that pledges not to cut off funding for troops in the field.

And so you see, the issue here is not even one of the GOP trying to block debate -- it is really about the Democrats refusing to allow any chance to permit the Senate to amend the Aid And Comfort Resolution to include a commitment not to give in to John Murtha's proposal to starve the troops until the Administration surrenders.

UPDATE: Looks like the DemocratICK Party is already planning on a strategy of massive aid-and-comfort.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats would be "relentless."

"There will be resolution after resolution, amendment after amendment . . . just like in the days of Vietnam," Schumer said. "The pressure will mount, the president will find he has no strategy, he will have to change his strategy and the vast majority of our troops will be taken out of harm's way and come home."

Here's hoping this includes Sen. Lindsey Graham's suggestion to the Democrats.

"If you believe half of what you're saying in these resolutions then have the courage of your convictions to stop this war by cutting off funding. But no one wants to do that because they don't really know how that's going to play out here at home."

Will the Copperhead Democrats and White Flag Republicans be willing to serve up their treason straight, rather than cutting it with non-binding verbiage?

UPDATE 2: Yes, indeed, the current DemocratICK contingent in the Senate is acting in the finest tradition of the DemocratICK Party's heritage.

"There's always been a lot of dissent in wartime," said Senate historian Donald A. Ritchie. Sometimes, as in Vietnam, it takes a while to build, he added: "There's a certain point when everybody marches together. They were very much united with Johnson in '65 and '66. But when the war turned bad, that's when they broke away. The same was true in the Civil War, and the same was true in any protracted war when things didn't go well."

But interestingly enough, that opposition continued even when strategic and tactical changes were leading to victory -- with the Copperhead Democrats demanding the Civil War be ended a matter of months before the ultimate No doubt we will continue to get efforts aimed at forcing capitulation to terror even as we se reports like this one.

ATTACKS and killings in Baghdad have dropped by 80 per cent since Iraqi and US forces launched their security plan for Baghdad, Iraqi army spokesman Qasim al-Musawi said today.

"Terror operations in Baghdad dropped by 80 per cent," since the Iraqi Government officially launched a broad plan aimed at snuffing out sectarian violence in the capital, Mr Musawi said.

"The morgue was receiving 40-50 bodies per day before and now has received only 20 in the last 48 hours," said the spokesman for Lieutenant General Abboud Gambar, who commands a joint force of Iraqi soldiers and policemen.

Mr Musawi said that 144 people had been arrested in the four days since Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced the operation was underway. He said "they were wanted suspects and the arrests were not arbitrary."

And these are these are the early results, before the biggest impact of the surge can be expected to be seen. No doubt such successes will only intensify the efforts of the Copperhead Caucus and White Flag Republicans follow the Murtha/Schumer strategy of depriving the troops of training and equipment needed for ultimate victory.

Posted by: Greg at 10:27 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 768 words, total size 5 kb.