By a 12-9 vote, largely along party lines, the Senate Armed Services Committee passed a non-binding resolution, which declares that the deployment of additional troops to Iraq is "not in the national interest."
"We better be damn sure we know what we're doing, all of us, before we put 22,000 more Americans into that grinder," said Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, the only Republican on the committee to announce support for the measure.
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., the panel's chairman, said the legislation is "not an attempt to embarrass the president. ...It's an attempt to save the president from making a significant mistake with regard to our policy in Iraq."
The full Senate is scheduled to begin debate on the measure next week.
Some Republicans uncomfortable with the president's call for a surge of 21,500 troops into Iraq said they would never the less vote against the measure. Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana was one of them.
"I am not confident that President Bush's plan will succeed," Lugar said.
Thanks to Dion for the tip and News4Jax for the story.
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