Instead of sweating a non-binding cloture vote saying, "I was in favor of until I was against it until I didn't know what it meant but I support our troops because my bumper sticker says so," here's a simple way to stop the escalation right now. Only requirement is 41 senators with guts:
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.
Thus, the present authorization for defense funding in the coming fiscal year can be stopped cold if it contains funds for the war on Iraq. And this can be done by just one courageous Senator, backed by 40 colleagues.
John V. Walsh on the pages of CounterPunch goes on to explain:
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.
http://www.counterpunch.org/...
here's the link to the complete story. So think about it. 41 Senators and the games over. Thats all it takes.