Senate Republicans block Iraq bill

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a plan to give U.S. troops in Iraq more leave time, defeating a proposal widely considered the Democrat's best near-term chance to change President George W. Bush's Iraq strategy.

The measure to give troops as much rest time at home as they spend deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan needed 60 votes to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate; it received just 56 votes, with 44 against.

It had been offered by Sen. Jim Webb, a decorated Vietnam veteran and former Navy secretary who said U.S. troops are being "burned out" by repeated redeployments to Iraq.

The plan was strongly opposed by the Bush administration. Pentagon Secretary Robert Gates called it a backdoor attempt to pull troops off the battlefield in the increasingly unpopular Iraq war.

Democrats who narrowly control the Senate have struggled all year to pass legislation winding down the Iraq war, and they have other proposals waiting in the wings, including some that explicitly require combat troop pullouts. But these are considered even less likely than Webb's to get the 60 votes often required to advance under Senate rules.

Webb's proposal ran into unexpected resistance from fellow Virginia Sen. John Warner, also a former Navy secretary and an influential Republican voice on military matters. He said he could not support it because it could have the effect of extending tours of duty for units already in the war zone.