After breaking a parliamentary roadblock, the U.S. Senate began a debate on a resolution calling for the withdrawal of most Americans from Iraq in 2008.

“The way to succeed in Iraq is not to do more of the same,” said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada (pictured), the Democratic majority leader, according to the New York Times. “It is to change the mission and change the course.”

But Senator John McCain, a Republican of Arizona and supporter of increased troop numbrers in Iraq, said sponsors of the resolution “would not declare war, nor end it, as the Constitution provides, but micromanage it.”

The path to a full debate was cleared this morning, when the Senate voted 89-9 not to block it. But the vote is only to discuss the matter, and not by any means a support for the actual resolution.

Several Republicans, in fact, say they relish the debate, which they feel will highlight the flaws and dangers of what they asserted was Democratic “micromanagement” of the war.

But Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) said a momentous choice is at hand.

“History will judge us. We can either continue down the perilous path, or embrace a new direction,” he said.

In the House, Democrats engaged in soul-searching discussions on Tuesday over their version of legislation aimed at winding down the Iraq war.

In a closed meeting among Democrats, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, and Representative Maxine Waters, a leader of the Out of Iraq Caucus, squared off over whether the legislation went far enough.

Still, the Democratic leadership said that its members are are confident and making progress in building a majority.

In the Senate, Democrats said Republicans are feeling the heat from the public after twice blocking consideration of a measure criticizing President George W. Bush’s proposal for a troop surge in Iraq.

Reid said the only Republican plan so far was “to commit more men and women in uniform to policing an open-ended civil war.”

Continue reading this article …