Today, the Senate rejected a binding resolution that would have resulted in the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq within the next twelve months:

The Senate today rejected a binding Democratic-sponsored resolution that would have set a target date a little more than a year from now for the withdrawal of most U.S. combat troops from Iraq. Senators then approved by large margins two nonbinding resolutions that express support for the troops. The withdrawal resolution, which under a Senate agreement needed 60 votes to pass, failed to win even a majority, with 48 senators voting in favor of it and 50 against it. The White House had threatened a veto if such a binding measure reached President Bush’s desk. (….) Two Democrats, Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Mark Pryor (Ark.), and independent Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.) joined Republicans in voting against the Democratic withdrawal plan. One Republican, Gordon Smith (Ore.), sided with most Democrats in supporting it. Two senators did not vote.

The two Senators who didn’t vote were Tim Johnson of South Dakota, who is recovering from a stroke, and John McCain, who apparently is too busy campaigning for Grand Poobah President of the United States to actually do his job. Most likely these two would have cancelled each others votes out, so the result would have been the same.

More importantly, though, today’s vote in the Senate seems to be a fairly strong indication that the chances of America’s involvement in the Iraq War ending before January 20, 2009 are beyond infinitesimal.