Salazar opposes troop buildup in Iraq; Allard supports it

M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 1, 2007 at midnight

Text size

More Colorado Government

WASHINGTON — Sen. Ken Salazar is standing behind a bipartisan resolution opposing a troop build up in Iraq, even as some critics call it too soft and others say it's too harsh.

Salazar, D-Denver, and fellow Coloradan, Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Loveland, are on opposite sides going into a debate next week over President Bush's plan to add 21,500 additional troops to the battlefield in Iraq.

War critics appear to have at least a simple majority to pass a non-binding "sense of Congress" resolution to pressure the White House into reconsidering its plans. The debate is about how strongly it should be worded.

Salazar backs a compromise version that says the U.S. Senate "disagrees" with the president and urges him to consider alternatives to adding the troops.

Allard opposes it because it could damage the morale of troops in Iraq, chief of staff Sean Conway said.

Meanwhile, some war critics, like possible presidential candidate Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., call the resolution "essentially an endorsement of the status quo" that won't lead to the phased redeployment he and other Democrats want sooner.

"I respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree with my colleague," Salazar said of Dodd Thursday. "It doesn't do what he says it does. The resolution makes a strong statement that there's disagreement with the president's plan?and sets forth an alternative."

The debate is expected to dominate Capitol Hill for much of next week. Conway said the results are unpredictable, especially since so many members of the Senate from both parties are posturing for the 2008 White House race.

"This is not Republican-Democrat," Conway said of the various factions. "There are more factions than in the (British) House of Commons on this resolution."

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News