The Senate just had a vote on the Cut n’ Run non-binding resolution:
One day after the House issued a rebuke to President Bush, Senate Democrats pressed for a symbolic rejection Saturday of the administration’s deployment of additional combat troops to Iraq. Republicans said they had the strength to sidetrack the measure.
"They are torn between their president’s policy and the wishes of the constituents, but vote they must," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said of Republicans.
GOP critics demanded equal treatment for an alternative that rejects any attempt to reduce or eliminate funds for troops in the field.
Democrats refused, and gridlock was the likely result.
The Democratic measure, though nonbinding, "undercuts the commander in chief and the troops on a mission in the field," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.
Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., accused Democrats of hijacking the Senate floor by refusing to permit a vote on the alternative measure.
And the cloture didn’t pass:
AYES = 56
NEAS = 34
UPDATE
A must-see six minute video of Congressman Sam Johnson addressing Congress yesterday about their own Cut n’ Run resolution:
Despite falling four votes short of breaking a GOP filibuster, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) claimed a symbolic victory in the fight over the Iraq War today as Democrats mustered a bipartisan majority of 56 lawmakers to support taking up a resolution opposing President Bush’s plan to increase U.S. troop levels in the war-torn country.
UPDATE II
Mohammed from Iraq The Model depicts a "surge" that is working:
Since the multiple bombings in Shroja market district on the 12th, Baghdad hasn’t seen any major attacks and there’s a tangible decrease in all kinds of attacks.
Not only official statements say so (Defense ministry officials said today that attacks are down by 80% in Baghdad). It’s a reality I live in nowadays, at least in my neighborhood and its surroundings. It is also what I hear from friends and relatives in other parts of the city.
We are hearing fewer explosions and less gunfire now than two weeks ago and that, in Baghdad, qualifies as quiet.
I agree with what some experts say about this lull in violence being the result of militants keeping their heads down for a while. It is also possibly the result of the flight of the commanders of militant groups. Grunts left without planners, money or leaders wouldn’t want to do much on their own.
During my tour in Baghdad today I had to pull over to be searched at several checkpoints — something that has rarely happened to me before. When you are searched soldiers or policemen check the identity cards of passengers, and the registration papers of the vehicle along with a thorough physical search. Checkpoints deal even more strictly with large vans and cargo trucks.
The interesting thing about new checkpoints is the constant shifting of their location. One hour the checkpoint would be here and two hours later it would relocate to another position within the area. I think this helps security forces avoid becoming targets instead of hunters.
In addition to soldiers and policemen, most checkpoints have one or more traffic policemen reportedly being equipped with laptops that enable them to flag suspected vehicles by offering instant access to vehicle-registration databases.
Side by side with new security efforts is a campaign to clean and redecorate many streets, circles and parks in Baghdad. New trees are planted and damaged street medians and sidewalks are being refurbished. This offers a small yet much needed breeze of hope and normalcy to the traumatized city.
The most significant and encouraging development is certainly this report from al-Sabah:
Brigadier Qasim Ata, an authorized Baghdad Operation spokesman, told al-Sabah that for the 3rd day in a row dozens of displaced families are returning to their homes. 35 families returned in Madain, 7 in hay al-I’ilam and small numbers of families in various districts of Baghdad.
Later reports in the local media indicate that the total number of families that returned home is as high as 130 families across the city, including several families in the, until recently, hopelessly violent district of Hay al-Adl.
But the Democrats only see failure and defeat.
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