WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Wednesday defeated an amendment offered by two Vietnam combat veterans, Sens. Jim Webb, D-Va., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., that would have increased the time troops have at home before they return to war in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Fifty-six senators _including seven Republicans — voted in favor, but the measure fell short of the 60-vote super-majority Republicans had demanded, exploiting Senate rules.
The measure would have required that active-duty service members have the same amount of time at home as they've served at war before they're sent again to Iraq or Afghanistan. Military reserves and National Guard members would have had three years between deployments.
The Senate also voted 97-0 for an amendment sponsored by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent Democrat from Connecticut who votes with the Bush administration on Iraq, that demands that Iran stop supporting Iraqis who are killing Americans. It didn't specify consequences.
The vote on lengthening "dwell time" between deployments, the first on amendments to a fiscal 2008 defense-policy bill, indicated that Democrats are likely to fall short on other bills to change war policy this month, but the gap is narrowing as more Republican senators and more Americans oppose President Bush's Iraq strategy.
A new Gallup poll released Wednesday found that 71 percent of Americans favor withdrawing most U.S. troops by next April, and 62 percent say it was a mistake to send troops to Iraq. Gallup said that was a new high in opposition to the war.
Democrats are pushing ahead with votes for withdrawal and to change the focus of the mission in Iraq to counterterrorism and training instead of stopping sectarian violence in Baghdad.
The House of Representatives planned a vote Thursday on a bill sponsored by Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., calling for a withdrawal to begin in 120 days and end by next April 1. The president would have to report to Congress to justify leaving some troops in Iraq for such missions as fighting terrorists.
The Senate is expected to vote soon on an amendment by Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., that would start a withdrawal in 120 days but would leave it up to Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in Iraq, to decide how many service members should leave and how many should stay to fight the insurgent group al Qaida in Iraq, protect Americans and their allies in Iraq, and train and equip Iraqi forces.
Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., urged senators Wednesday to support that approach because it would direct American forces to kill al Qaida adherents while pressuring the Iraqi government to end sectarian violence.
"I believe that President Bush's formulation that we will stand down when they stand up is backwards," Smith said. Iraqi leaders seek revenge and religious division, not reconciliation, he said, and "they will not stand up until we begin standing down."
Smith was among the seven Republicans who voted in favor of the amendment to lengthen periods between war duty. The others, besides Hagel, were Norm Coleman of Minnesota, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, John Sununu of New Hampshire and John Warner of Virginia. All but Snowe face 2008 elections.
Some Republicans who voted against the amendment called it an effort to take away flexibility from military commanders and a backdoor way to end the troop buildup, as it would reduce the number of service members available for duty at a time when the military is strained.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the plan would set a "dangerous precedent" that would "allow the political moment to take over troop deployments."
The Military Officers Association of America, a nonpartisan group that represents 360,000 active and retired officers, endorsed the measure, saying in a letter that the military is overstressed.
Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., said that he and Warner could offer a nonbinding amendment as early as Thursday that would attempt to persuade the administration to change its Iraq policy. Neither Lugar nor Warner would disclose details, saying they're waiting until Congress receives an interim progress report on Iraq on Thursday.
For details from the Gallup poll, go to www.galluppoll.com