As expected, after an all-night debate the Senate Democrats got a majority in favor of closing debate on the bill that would start bringing troops home, but it fell 8 votes short of the 60 votes needed to break the Republican filibuster. So the bill can not be voted upon. The vote was 52-47 in favor of closing debate and voting on the bill. The Bush administration is busy hyping al Qaeda in Irag, and saying that if we withdraw from Iraq, al Qaeda will take over. They don't mention that it was the war that brought al Qaeda into Iraq in the first place, that al Qaeda is not the driving force behind the Iraq civil war, and it is the U.S. presence that is causing al Qaeda to remain in Iraq and grow.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, playing hard ball, today just set aside the pending Defense Authorization Bill until the Senate's Republican leadership stops the filibuster tactics and allows votes on Iraq withdrawal.
