Dem leader Gordon incites Senate GOP fury with Iraq comments

Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver, lashed out today at U.S. plans to boost troop reinforcements in Iraq and drew a stern rebuke from Senate Republicans for accusing American forces of killing, “many of the civilians that live there.”

The GOP called the comments “disgusting,” an insult to the military and playing politics. 

Gordon, speaking at a Capitol news conference hosted by the liberal, anti-war group, Colorado Progressive Coalition, also expressed dismay that “trillions of dollars" are being spent on the Iraq war effort. The entire U.S. fiscal year 2008 budget is approximately $2.9 trillion. 

The District 35 senator, who was joined at the news conference by freshman Democrat Rep. John Kefalas of Fort Collins, blamed war spending for domestic woes, including Colorado’s inability to fund services like higher education and roads.

Gordon and fellow Democrat Sen. Ron Tupa, of Boulder, are sponsoring a Senate resolution denouncing Bush administration plans to send more reinforcements to support the Iraq mission.

“It’s very difficult to bring democracy to a country while you are killing, even inadvertently, many of the civilians that live there,” Gordon said. “Although we’ve had 3,000 Americans die, we have also participated in creating a situation where over 100,000 Iraqis have died.”

An incredulous Republican Sen. Greg Brophy, of Wray, recoiled at Gordon’s twist on civilian casualties.

“Are we the ones blowing up vehicles with chlorine gas in them?” Brophy said. “The only time we’ve ever lost a war is when we made our guys fight with one or two hands tied behind their backs. And opposing extra troops is doing the same thing.”

Senate GOP chief Andy McElhany, of Colorado Springs, was also dismayed by Gordon's views: “That comment is typical of the blame-America-first crowd. It’s not us that is doing all the killing over there.”

Assistant Minority Leader Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, added that “It's disgusting to play politics with our troops. We should let American men and women over there know that we are behind them all the way.”

Freshman Sen. Mike Kopp, R-Littleton, a decorated Gulf War veteran who is carrying a resolution that expresses unqualified support for U.S. troops serving in the Iraq mission, said Gordon’s remarks only serve to undermine troop morale.

“They hear, ‘You’re failing, and we don’t believe in what you’re doing enough to send you the support you need to accomplish your mission,’” Kopp said. He waved off the progressive coalition’s claim that it supports the troops.

“It’s hard to take them seriously when they say, ‘We support the troops who are there. We just don’t support the troops who are going there,’” he said.

Kopp continued, “This is nothing but a political show. If they’re not being political, they should find a way to get on the solution side of the equation.”

The face-off comes as a new national poll by Public Opinion Strategies shows that by a 53 percent-to-46 percent margin, respondents surveyed said “Democrats are going too far, too fast in pressing the President to withdraw troops from Iraq.”