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US troops' Iraq leave bid blocked | US troops' Iraq leave bid blocked |
(19 minutes later) | |
Senate Republicans have blocked a bid by Democrats to give US troops in Iraq more home leave - a plan strongly opposed by the Bush administration. | Senate Republicans have blocked a bid by Democrats to give US troops in Iraq more home leave - a plan strongly opposed by the Bush administration. |
The Democrats wanted US troops to have time off between tours in Iraq equal to their 15-month deployments. | The Democrats wanted US troops to have time off between tours in Iraq equal to their 15-month deployments. |
The measure needed 60 votes to pass in the Democratic controlled Senate but received only 56 votes with 44 against. | The measure needed 60 votes to pass in the Democratic controlled Senate but received only 56 votes with 44 against. |
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates called it a backdoor attempt to pull troops off the battlefield. | US Defence Secretary Robert Gates called it a backdoor attempt to pull troops off the battlefield. |
He warned that he would have recommended US President George W Bush veto the measure had it passed. | |
The BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani in Washington said the bill had been the Democrats' best chance this year of changing the course of US strategy in the Iraq war. | |
'Slow bleed' | |
Supporters of the bill said opponents were ignoring the troops' interests. | |
"In blocking this bipartisan bill, Republicans have onceagain demonstrated that they are more committed toprotecting the president than protecting our troops," Senate Majority leader Harry Reid said. | |
Senator Chuck Hagel, one of six Republicans who backed the bill, said: "We cannot continue to look at war and the people who fight and die in wars as abstractions, as pawns, as objects." | |
But critics said it would have interfered with Mr Bush's plans to reduce US troop levels in Iraq by around 30,000 to about 130,000 by mid-2008. | |
US troops currently have about 12 months rest at home between deployments. | |
Republican Senator John McCain, a presidential candidate next year, branded the bill "dangerous". | |
And fellow Republican Jim Bunning said of the Democrats' motion: "I will not support this slow bleed strategy in Iraq. It ties the hands of our commanders." | |
It was the latest defeat over the conflict for Democrats, who grabbed control of Congress last year. |