What, I have not seen here at Kos is an effective parliamentary strategy for ending the war. Here is a simple strategy where a minority of Senators could enforce the will of the majority. I will try to explain. If you like this idea, please invite, Senators Reid, Kennedy, Feingold, Levin, Obama or Hagel to adopt it. Over on Counter Punch (link), John V. Walsh penned a "story" entitled:
It Only Takes 41 Senate Votes to End the War. Republicans Show the Way.
We hear over and over again that it "takes 60 votes to get something serious done in the Senate." That is a lot of malarkey. It takes only one senator to begin a filibuster against any bill. And then it takes only 41 votes to uphold that filibuster and prevent any proposed law from coming to the floor.
Therefore defense spending for the War can be stoped by one Senator, with the support of 40 others.
Let me propose the following scenario. Just one Senator, Ted Kennedy or Russ Feingold or Robert Byrd, arises in the Senate and declares that he will filibuster the present defense authorization bill if it contains funds for the war on Iraq or Iran. That bill is then dead unless there are 60 votes (3/5 of the 100 Senators) to end the debate, i.e., to invoke cloture. That is it. Bush no longer has the funds to prosecute the war. He has to come back with a funding bill acceptable to the 41.
At the same time the filibustering Senator could put forth a resolution similar to Congressman McGovern's in the House, which is aptly named "The Safe and Orderly Withdrawal Act." It provides funds to ensure the withdrawal of U.S, forces from Iraq in a way that guarantees their safety, and no other funding for the war. If the opponents of our hypothetical, courageous Senator wish to oppose such legislation, let them go on record in so doing. They are then on record as refusing funds to bring the troops safely home.
The Republicans have shown in their very first weeks in opposition that they have the ovaries to do what the Democrats will not. Today (February, 5) they raised 49 votes in the Senate to prevent a relatively harmless non-binding resolution against Bush's so-called "surge." These votes included Democrats Joseph Lieberman and Henry Reid, the Senate majority leader!
So here it is Democrats, Progressives, Liberals and Anti-War people an effective way for the minority of Senators to enforce the will of the majority of Americans, and the world for that matter. Stop the War Filibuster Now.