By DENNIS CAMIRE
Advertiser Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Hawai'i's two senators backed an unsuccessful Democratic move today to provide $50 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but only if the president begins pulling out troops.

The measure was one of two competing war funding measures before the Senate as it prepared to go on a two-week Thanksgiving recess.

Earlier Democratic Sens. Daniel K. Inouye and Daniel Akaka voted for a successful effort to block a $70 billion Republican proposal to fund the wars without the withdrawal provisions and other policy changes demanded by Democrats.

"I was pleased to vote in favor of the (Democratic plan), which funds our military while requiring the president to take a new direction in Iraq," Akaka said.

Akaka said that while the Republican proposal would provide money for the war, "it did not include a clear and comprehensive strategy for redeployment in Iraq or a timeline for withdrawal."

Inouye said the Democratic plan, which the House approved 218-203 on Wednesday, provides the best course of action.

"The votes Friday in the Senate demonstrated that even though the public does not support the president's war in Iraq, Republican senators have been very supportive, even to the point of not demanding accountability from the administration," Inouye said.

The Senate voted 53-45 for the Democratic plan, seven votes short of the 60 needed to bring it up for consideration. The Republican proposal also was rejected on a 53-45 vote.

The Democratic plan supplies only a portion of the $196.4 billion that President Bush requested for the wars this year and sets a goal that most troops must be withdrawn from Iraq by Dec. 15, 2008.

The House-passed bill would set up other policy requirements such as prohibiting torture and requiring troops to be fully trained and equipped before being sent to Iraq. But Bush is allowed to waive the requirements.

The bill also calls for a regional stability plan and its money would be used to pay for counterterrorism, force protection and Iraqi security forces training.

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