Iraq pullout plan fails again in Senate

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Frustrated U.S. Senate Democrats failed to pass legislation on Friday to force a troop pullout from Iraq in nine months, capping a week of defeats that reinforced the chamber's divide over the war.

The proposal's sponsors said they would spend the weekend crafting a compromise to try to attract more support to challenge President George W. Bush's strategy in Iraq, and denied they were wasting the Senate's time.

"We're not going to be discouraged," Michigan Democratic Sen. Carl Levin said. "There's no better use of the Senate's time than to try to change the direction in Iraq."

The Senate voted 47 to 47 on a plan by Levin and Rhode Island Democrat Jack Reed to require most U.S. troops to leave Iraq within nine months of the bill's enactment. That was far short of the 60-vote threshold it needed for approval and worse than 52-47 vote received by a similar measure in July.

The loss was one of a string of Democratic defeats on the war this week. A Democratic proposal for a war funding cutoff was rejected on Thursday, and a plan to give U.S. troops more leave between deployments also failed amid criticism it would limit the military's ability to maintain force levels.

War opponents in the Senate have endured similar setbacks all year, but had hoped more Republicans would break with President George W. Bush this autumn and embrace timelines for bringing U.S. troops home, or at least back other plans that contested strategy in the unpopular war.

But the Republican minority in the closely divided Senate felt bolstered by a recent report from Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, who said some progress was being made.

The White House was happy. "We're pleased with the votes this week," spokeswoman Dana Perino said. But she said she was sure of "more discussion and continued debate about the war."

The next round could be on the Bush administration's upcoming war funding request, which may be as high as $200 billion. Pentagon chief Robert Gates testifies about it next week to a Senate panel. The Iraq war already has cost taxpayers more than $421 billion, the Congressional Budget Office says.

'DANGEROUS PRECEDENT'

Before Friday's vote, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said it was a "dangerous precedent" for Congress to undermine a strategy "that has proven to be successful."

Reed, however, noted that Petraeus had embraced part of the Democrats' approach by announcing plans for a limited drawdown to about 130,000 troops next summer, from 169,000 now in Iraq.

He also warned of "the reality here at home: waning support for a policy that the American people feel is misguided and has been incompetently executed by the administration."

Although Friday's measure received less support than the similar one in July, Levin pointed out the earlier vote was a procedural one -- and that six senators were absent on Friday, including three likely supporters.

One Democrat who voted against the withdrawal plan on Friday was presidential hopeful Chris Dodd of Connecticut, a fierce war critic, who complained that the measure did not enforce the troop pullout with a cutoff of war funds.

This highlighted the dilemma that Levin and Reed face while trying to craft a compromise. If they manage to attract more than the handful of Republicans who have voted with them so far, they may lose fervent anti-war Democrats.

(Additional reporting by Donna Smith)