On a personal note, I have close friends who are deeply effected by the compass direction Iraq will point in the future. Spanning my life from childhood, highschool, college and graduate school in branches of the military or civil service overseas.  

They decided to serve our nation for a mixture of reasons: lack of job opportunities locally, a new direction in life, poverty, to follow the footsteps as a member of a military family, patriotism, college tuition assistance, or for the experience of a lifetime with no regrets.

When you do the math, 47 or 50 or 51 will never equate 60 to end cloture in the Senate.

Definition of Cloture as stated in the Senate.gov glossary:

Cloture - The only procedure by which the Senate can vote to place a time limit on consideration of a bill or other matter, and thereby overcome a filibuster. Under the cloture rule (Rule XXII), the Senate may limit consideration of a pending matter to 30 additional hours, but only by vote of three-fifths of the full Senate, normally 60 votes.

For now most are at home with their families and loves ones to my knowledge.

People we hold dear in our lives are more precious and go above partisanship and shallow political rhetoric.

Here is an open thread question to spur critical thinking:

Knowing the stark political reality of cloture, what are the political solution(s) to bring peace and stability to Iraq?