The US Senate is continuing a marathon overnight debate on the Iraq war, aiming for a showdown vote later in the day on a Democratic plan to withdraw combat troops by April 2008.
Bracing for an around-the-clock session that began yesterday morning, Senate leaders arranged for portable beds and food deliveries to sustain senators, including a few octogenarians.
Republican leaders, using a procedural hurdle, seemed certain to stop a Democratic proposal backed by a majority of the Senate to withdraw US combat troops by April 30th, 2008. Even if the withdrawal measure were to be passed, it likely would face a veto by Republican President George W. Bush.
Workers lay out cots for Senators in the US Capitol Building in Washington last night
But the debate underscored mounting opposition in Congress to a war most voters no longer support, as well as Democrats' frustration over their inability to stop it.
"Republicans will need to choose whether they want to protect the president or protect our troops," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said. He said he hoped the all-night session would "focus attention on the obstructionism of the Republicans."
Republicans denounced the all-night debate as a stunt by Democrats who have drawn fire from voters for failing to deliver on a 2006 campaign vow to withdraw troops.
In fiery exchanges, Democrats noted that more than 3,600 US soldiers have died in the war, now in its fifth year, and that a change in strategy was needed. Republicans warned a troop pullout would embolden terrorists and increase the risk of attack on the United States.
The debate unfolded on the same day Mr Bush and Congress received a US intelligence report saying the United States faced an increased threat of attack from al-Qaeda