Real Troop Support

Democrats Push a Tactic to Shift Iraq Plan
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN and DAVID S. CLOUD, NY Times

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 — Now that President Bush and Gen. David H. Petraeus have charted their course for the Iraq war, Democrats in the Senate say one of their proposals aimed at shifting the president’s strategy is finally close to winning enough Republican support for a real chance at being approved. It would require that troops spend as much time at home as on their most recent tours overseas before being redeployed.

The proposal, by Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, has strong support from top Democrats, who say that the practical effect would be to add time between deployments and force General Petraeus to withdraw troops on a substantially swifter timeline than the one he laid out before Congress this week, and that it would protect troops from serving protracted and debilitating deployments.
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The precise impact of Mr. Webb’s proposal is likely to be hotly debated next week as the Senate resumes its consideration of a major defense policy bill that Democrats will use to push a number of initiatives aimed at shifting the war strategy.
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The Webb measure holds deep appeal for military service members and their families, and allows Democrats to present themselves as supporters of the troops, but not the war. Mr. Webb has a son in the Marine Corps in Iraq whose tour was extended because of the troop increase.