September 11, 2007
Senate Lunch Chatter: Stances On Iraq Harden
On the anniversary of 9/11, the talk in the halls outside the Senate weekly caucus lunches centered on the future of the war in Iraq. Sandwiched between hearings before the Foreign Relations Committee and Armed Services Committee in which Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker asked for more time for U.S. forces in Iraq, the lunch chatter revealed a general hardening of positions on each side of the aisle.
Democrats stuck to their calls for a timeline for withdrawal, albeit one that could have a goal rather than a deadline for the drawdown of troops to a much lower level for limited purposes. Republicans said they were inclined to stick with Petraeus' plans. A few senators, such as Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, talked up possible bipartisan compromises, but Gordon Smith, R-Ore., said a road to a bipartisan agreement looked rocky.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said that the debate on Iraq will take place next week after Congress returns from the Rosh Hashanah break. The talk from last week about Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, largely fell off, as Craig stayed away from the Capitol and pursued a withdrawal of his guilty plea.
Posted at 2:20 PM
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David Petraeus, Iraq, Senate
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