This should have happened years ago.

What do we pay these people for exactly?

Republican Snowe, Saying `Tide Has Turned,' Backs Withdrawal

Laura Litvan
Mon Jul 9, 6:08 PM ET

July 9 (Bloomberg) -- Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, saying the political ``tide has turned'' on the Iraq war, backed forcing President George W. Bush to withdraw U.S. troops and
predicted that more Republicans will abandon his war policy.

Snowe, of Maine, said that she is likely to support at least one of several Democratic amendments to a defense policy measure that will demand a reduction in U.S. forces.

``We have to set it in motion,'' she said of a withdrawal.

Snowe's decision, five days after New Mexico Republican Pete Domenici called for a new U.S. military policy in Iraq, reflects the wavering support for Bush's war policy within the
president's own party in the Senate.

Until now, Snowe has indicated she would side with a Bush administration request that lawmakers wait until September when Army General David Petraeus, the lead U.S. commander in Iraq, is to give a report to Congress on the war's progress.

Bush administration officials sought today to lower expectations about a report on the Iraq war that Bush is to send to Congress by July 15, saying it was unrealistic to expect the
study would show significant progress in meeting military and
political goals.

Snowe said she is considering lending her support to an amendment, still being drafted by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, which would
require troop withdrawals to begin within 120 days.

Snowe said she changed her stance after seeing few signs of progress in Iraq in recent months, and after learning of the death of another U.S. soldier from her home state.

Lugar, Voinovich

Republican Senators Richard Lugar of Indiana, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, and George Voinovich of Ohio have also recently called for a change in
direction in Iraq in recent weeks.

Six Senate Republicans are backing legislation introduced by Democratic Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado and Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee that implements
the 79 recommendations of the Iraq Study Group.

While it doesn't set a deadline for withdrawal, it aims to create conditions that could lead to a redeployment of U.S. troops as early as the first quarter of next year.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Julianna Goldman in Washington at
Jgoldman6@bloomberg.net ,
and Laura Litvan in Washington at
llitvan@bloomberg.net