Beyond which, claiming that there's some sort of CAUSAL link between the situation in the senate and the politicalization of the Sunnis in Iraq doesn't make any sense. If anything the timing of their announcement might have been affected by the current debate. But the Sunnis didn't just decide, a couple days ago, to get all friendly because the silly American congress is engaged in procedural shenanigans. It's a separate issue.

Obviously the Sunnis are looking ahead and have multiple plans on the table depending on what happens. This agreement could not have been negotiated in a few days. However, the decision to make this announcement at this time is certainly connected to the debate in Congress, which seems wholey about domestic politics and not intended to influence Iraq in this way. Our invasion plan for Afghanistan, as an example, could not have been formulated and executed in 30 days, and yet it was. Our decision to proceed with it at that time wasn't merely a matter of timing.

While I think that the point you and Mike are making, about the Democrats trying to deflect claims that Congress is ineffective, is inciteful and something not easily found in mainstream analysis, it still means this is political theater intended for domestic consumption.

Furthermore, I want to point out that CSM published a story on this Senate debate that fit my take on it fairly closely.

Never mind that the amendment went down to certain defeat. Or that the legislative marathon changed only a single vote in the Senate. Washington's political theater is part of a deliberate political strategy aimed at living rooms across America. By presenting the choice over the future of the Iraq war in the starkest possible terms, Democrats hope to convince Americans of the need to change course and ratchet up the political pressure on Republican lawmakers supporting President Bush.

"The goal of Democrats was clear: to put Republicans on record on where they stand on an unpopular war and to keep Iraq in the news, which is not good for the Bush administration," says Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. "On these two levels, they were successful, even if no new legislation will come out of it. Democrats want Iraq to be for President Bush what Vietnam became for President Johnson: an all-consuming issue, where nothing else can be discussed."

Democrats plan similar votes in the House to force Republicans to express publicly views on a war that has lost the support of most Americans.

RE: Insurgents form political front to plan for US pullout