Sharp Debate, and a Defection
By Shailagh Murray and Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, July 15, 2007; Page A06


Sen. Olympia J. Snowe could wait no longer. On Thursday, the Maine Republican publicly broke with the White House on the Iraq war, which she had long since come to oppose. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a fervent war opponent, believes that there are plenty of other Republicans prepared to jump at the next dose of bad news. "I just see the growing fear in their eyes on this," she said.

Snowe's move -- long anticipated, much agonized-over -- came during a week of intense congressional debate over the war, when President Bush issued a mixed report on military and political progress in Iraq and his advisers worried that the political pressure to change course now, rather than after a full report due this fall, would prove inexorable. But Bush voiced his opposition to what he called a "precipitous" departure as Democratic leaders promised a series of votes -- and weeks of agonized debate -- until there is a change of course. ...