Nebraska Senators' yeas push Iraq war bill ahead

Nebraska Sens. Chuck Hagel and Ben Nelson joined forces Tuesday to tip the Senate in favor of a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

The votes from Republican Hagel and Democrat Nelson provided the margin of difference as the Senate rejected a Republican amendment to scuttle a nonbinding withdrawal timeline on a 50-48 vote.

A proposal supporting a phased withdrawal attracted only 48 votes in the Senate earlier this month, with Nelson and Hagel voting no.

As the Senate approached its latest showdown on Iraq Tuesday, neither Nebraska senator had signaled his intention to vote to protect the proposed timeline that envisions withdrawal of most U.S. troops by March 31, 2008.

Both Hagel and Nelson reject arbitrary timelines for troop withdrawal, but both oppose President Bush's escalation of U.S. troop levels and have argued for a change in the U.S. military mission to disengage troops from civil conflict, especially in Baghdad.

“It's time for Congress to establish responsible boundaries and conditions,” Hagel argued in an impassioned floor speech. He previously has raised speculation that he may be a presidential candidate.

The plan outlined in the Iraq war supplemental appropriations bill does not cut off funding for U.S. troops or impose a precipitate withdrawal, the senator said.

It recommends “a goal,” Hagel said, “not a binding date for U.S. withdrawal.”

Hagel was one of only two Republicans to vote against the amendment to strip the phased withdrawal language from the bill. The other was Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon.

Nelson said he's enthusiastic about the bill's inclusion of benchmarks he has long championed measuring Iraqi performance in assuming responsibility for governing and stabilizing the country.

“I do not support setting a calendar date for withdrawal from Iraq,” Nelson said.

The March 31, 2008, date is “aspirational,” he said, simply a goal.

While he may have supported an amendment to simply remove the nonbinding withdrawal date, Nelson said, the Republican amendment offered by Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi would have stripped other key components of the bill.

Among those provisions, Nelson said, was a call for regional diplomatic engagement.

In a phone interview, Nelson said the legislation has value in sending a message to the White House even if it is ultimately vetoed by President Bush. Democrats could not command the votes required to override a promised veto in the Senate.

“The American people have been pushing Congress to do something to change the direction of the war,” Nelson said. “The American people want the way forward to include deciding to get out of Iraq.”

Hagel told the Senate the war has been conducted by the Bush administration with “an arrogant self-delusion reminiscent of Vietnam.”

The war has been “misunderstood, misread, misplanned and mismanaged,” he said, and has resulted in “significant damage to our military.”

Moreover, he said, it has been “devastating for our country.”

The supplemental appropriations bill provides $122 billion, largely to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Final passage is expected on today or Thursday.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.