Senate Democratic war council forges single voice on Iraq

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: Democrats Forge Single Voice on Iraq
By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 9, 2007; Page A19

The new Senate Iraq resolution, unveiled yesterday afternoon, is the latest handiwork yet of Congress's newest "it club": the Senate Democratic war council. The inaugural meeting was called last June by Harry M. Reid (Nev.), then the minority leader. The midterm elections were nearing, and Democrats wanted to answer voters' growing concerns about the war.

The result was a nonbinding resolution offered by Sens. Jack Reed (R.I.) and Carl M. Levin (Mich.) that called for troop reductions to begin by the end of the year. It failed 60 to 39 but represented the Democrats' first major challenge to President Bush's Iraq policy since the war began.

The vote also launched a new effort, spearheaded by the council, to minimize public squabbling over Iraq by instituting a internal process for integrating the caucus's wide range of war-related views....

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In January, when Democrats assumed control of both chambers of Congress, they decided to answer Bush's troop escalation proposal with a nonbinding statement of opposition. Reid, as the new majority leader, convened his council at least once before the Senate vote on the measure. This time, every Democrat rallied in support of the resolution, although Lieberman voted against it. Republican procedural objections prevented it from going forward.

The council met again the next week. Biden pitched a new idea: replacing the 2002 authorization with a narrower authority that limited future military engagement. Some members, including antiwar Sen. Russell Feingold (Wis.), weighed in with specific concerns, which are now being incorporated. Their final version was unveiled yesterday, with debate starting on the Senate floor as early as next week....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/08/AR2007030802309.html