Failed Legislation

Via NYTimes.com:

A proposal that Democrats put forward as their best chance of changing the course of the Iraq war died on the Senate floor on Wednesday, as Republicans stood firmly with President Bush.

Another failed vote for a change in course on the Iraq war, surprising...There's some small hope in several other war proposals (especially Feingold's [D-Wis], and Levin [D-Mich]) to be voted on today and tomorrow, but few, if any, have any hope of achieving the 60 votes necessary to end a filibuster.

Via Restore-Habeas.org:



Another failed vote for the constitution, surprising...This one, however, does have a little more hope, in that Chris Dodd has not given up this issue, despite it's failure. Maybe, one day, other countries will respect our legal system. One day...

Promising Progress Per Petraeus

Via FoxNews.com:

According to officials, Gen. David Petraeus is expected to propose the partial pullback in his September status report to Congress. Administration officials hope the general’s recommendations will persuade Congress to reject pressure for a major U.S. pullout from Iraq. Click here for the full report. The recommendation would allow U.S. commanders in the field to turn over security functions to Iraqi units, and redeploy them to other hot spots or as reserve forces, according to the report.

This is a definite surprise from General Petraeus. This follows the old "As Iraqis stand up, we will stand down" strategy of the Bush administration, which has long since been ignored and forgotten. It would be a great step in the right direction if General Petraeus does include this in his report to congress in September, but President Bush will hear what he wants to hear from that report and spin it however his adminstration sees fit. There is no reason to believe that General Petraeus's report will lead to anything but another broken promise of progress that advises we wait until an arbitrary date for progress.