"Heh heh. Works every time"

It's been a big week for Iraq "policy." The president made a bold five-hour visit to the country, the House Majority leader and the Pentagon both accidentally released papers on how to defend war policy from critics, and there was a spike in 9/11 references.

Senate Republicans even took time away from their anti-gay/pro-flag agenda to stage a symbolic vote that could be used during election campaigns to bludgeon their opponents. It was pretty shrewd, you've gotta admit. Vote yes, and you acknowedge the wisdom of invading Iraq. Vote no and you're a "cut and run coward."

Congress plunged into divisive election-year debate on the Iraq war Thursday as the U.S. military's death toll reached 2,500. The Senate soundly rejected a call to withdraw combat troops by year's end, and House Republicans laid the groundwork for their own vote.

In a move Democrats criticized as gamesmanship, Senate Republicans brought up the withdrawal measure and quickly dispatched it, for now, on a 93-6 vote.

The proposal would have allowed "only forces that are critical to completing the mission of standing up Iraqi security forces" to remain in Iraq in 2007.

Think of it not so much as a debate with a real chance of changing anything about the war in Iraq. It is more of a political dare, a non-binding resolution Republicans are putting to a vote that says the United States should hold firm on Iraq and the war on terror, reports CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.