A big middle finger to Joe.

It's looking like Connecticut will have a unified Senate delegation on Iraq next January:

PROVIDENCE -- U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd Thursday altered his course on Iraq, calling for a goal of repositioning U.S. troops from current Iraqi positions beginning immediately and finishing within 12 to 18 months.

Dodd, D-Conn., earlier this year had joined most other Democratic senators in rejecting precise timetables, calling instead for the beginning of phased redeployment by the end of this year.

But, he told students, faculty and alumni in a speech at Providence College: "The hour has arrived when Iraq must assume the responsibility of policing itself."

He offered a blueprint of how he would redeploy U. S. troops now in Iraq.

"We must begin immediately to reposition our troops from Baghdad, Fallujah and other large urban centers," he said, to Kurdistan and other less populated areas of Iraq.

That way, Dodd said, "training of Iraqi forces could continue."

He would also move troops to border areas, "where they can protect the territorial integrity of Iraq until Iraqi forces can do so themselves."

Other forces would head for military bases in Kuwait and Qatar, "where they could be available to protect our national security interests-and to Afghanistan, where we must redouble our efforts to capture Osama bin Laden, dismantle al-Qaida and neutralize the Taliban.

"These movements must begin immediately," Dodd said, "with the goal of completing them within the next 12 to 18 months."

Dodd will be campaigning with Ned this evening in West Hartford.