Reid's tough rhetoric reflected frustration by Democrats that more Republicans haven't broken with Bush on the war. Several Republican senators had grown increasingly anxious throughout the summer about the violence in Iraq and lack of political progress in Baghdad.
But despite a small group of challengers to the war, the GOP largely has stood behind Bush. On Wednesday, Republicans blocked legislation by Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, that would have guaranteed troops more time at home.
Yesterday, the Senate rejected, by a vote of 70 to 28, legislation sponsored by Reid and Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, that would have cut off funding for combat in June 2008.
"No matter where my colleagues came down in 2003 about the centrality of Iraq to the war on terror, there can simply be no debate that our efforts in Iraq today are critical to the wider struggle against violent Islamic extremism," said Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee.
Senator Gordon Smith, one of the few Republican senators who supports legislation ordering troop withdrawals, said he thought Petraeus's testimony last week and the MoveOn.org ad were the two biggest factors in keeping Republicans from breaking ranks with the president: Petraeus's testimony because it was persuasive and the ad because it attacked a popular uniformed officer.
"It was stupid on their part and disgraceful," said Smith, Republican of Oregon.
