Senate planning more votes on Iraq policy

Senate Democrats are planning a series of votes over the next couple weeks on Iraq. They're going to start the pressure on Bush and the GOP again. The main problem has been the Bush-protectionist Republican Senators -- and that includes Joe Lieberman.

The GOPers have blocked every reasonable proposal to curtail Bush's war. Bush is leading them on a political death march, and they're happily following. The American people have had it with the Iraq war. Over the next couple weeks, we'll see if they GOPers are still sticking with Bush and his failed Iraq policy:

The first amendment, crafted chiefly by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), mandates the start of a troop withdrawal from Iraq within 120 days of passage. The second amendment, crafted chiefly by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), would set strong troop readiness standards and ensure a minimum period between Iraq deployments.

The third amendment, a hotly sought goal of Reid’s that was crafted chiefly by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), would block spending on a future military presence in Iraq after April 2008, save for troops on counter-terrorism and training missions.

A possible fourth vote could come on revoking Congress’s original 2002 war authorization, a tactic favored by many but agreed upon by few. Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) has suggested “de-authorization” followed by a new, targeted mission, while Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) have suggested forcing President Bush to seek a new authorization from Congress.

It'll be pretty clear where Senators stand on Iraq after these votes.

Meanwhile, Baghdad is under a curfew:

Early morning blasts Wednesday destroyed two minarets at the same Shiite shrine in Samarra where an attack last year demolished the mosque's gilded dome and plunged the country into a wave of deadly sectarian violence.

The 9 a.m. explosions at the revered Askariya shrine in Samarra, about 65 miles north of Baghdad, is the sort of event that could spark a spiral of retaliatory bloodshed. U.S. officials have long worried that a major attack in Iraq could lead to uncontrollable bloodletting and undo recent gains in reducing violence made by the addition of thousands of extra U.S. troops stationed at high-profile posts on the streets of Baghdad and elsewhere.