Senate GOP blocks effort to extend troop leave

WASHINGTON — In another defeat for Democrats trying to change President Bush's Iraq policy, the Senate on Wednesday blocked legislation requiring that members of the active-duty military must spend at least as much time in the United States as they've spent in Iraq or Afghanistan before they can be sent back to the war zones.

Democrats plan several more bills in coming weeks to try to speed withdrawals, but the one on "dwell time" was considered their best chance to get the 60 votes needed under Senate rules to shut off debate. Like a similar amendment in July, it fell four votes short: 56-44.

A weaker "sense of the Senate" version that would have endorsed the policy as a goal without mandating it also fell short, 55-45.

Washington state Democratic Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell voted yes on both measures.

American soldiers generally now are deployed to Iraq for 15 months and get 12 months back in the United States, which includes time away from home spent training for their next missions.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., a former Navy secretary and a decorated Vietnam veteran, proposed the amendment. He said it would "put a safety net under our troops" while the debate on Iraq goes on.

"Somebody needs to referee this mess to restore balance in their lives, so they can have a life," he said at a news conference before the vote.

Some of the state's Guard and Reserve leaders have complained about the impact of the rotation schedule to Murray and Democratic Rep. Norm Dicks.

"Our forces are being burned out," Murray, who co-sponsored the amendment, said during the floor debate Wednesday. "For the first time in decades, the Army's ready brigade that is intended to enter trouble spots within 72 hours, cannot do so."

Rick Hegdahl, of Bellevue, a member of votevets.org, an organization of veterans who oppose the Iraq war, flew in to lobby five Republican senators, including Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, for the amendment.

Hegdahl, a Navy veteran, went door to door in Senate offices with the message that troop readiness levels and morale are sinking.

"It's hurting our ability to fight, because there's not enough time for training and too many tours," Hegdahl said.

The House version of the amendment passed 229-194 on Aug. 2. Dicks and fellow Democrats Rick Larsen, Adam Smith and Jim McDermott voted yes. Republican Dave Reichert and Democrat Brian Baird voted no.

The Pentagon and White House say the amendment amounts to Congress micromanaging troops.

However, Dicks has said that, based on specific concerns about readiness and training he has heard from military leaders, he believes the current rotation schedule is destroying the Guard and Reserves.

Seattle Times staff reporter Alicia Mundy contributed to this report.