Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) fired back at Rep. Doug Collins’ (R-GA) assertion that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) decision to hold a vote on the War Powers resolution shows that Democrats are “in love with terrorists.”
On Thursday morning, Collins told Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs that Pelosi and the Democrats “are in love with terrorists” because “they mourn [top Iranian military official Qasem] Soleimani more than they mourn our Gold Star families who suffered under Soleimani.”
During an interview on CNN Thursday afternoon, Duckworth — who is a combat veteran of the Iraq War — refused to “dignify” Collins’ remark with a response.
“I’m not going to dignify that with a response,” Duckworth said. “I left parts of my body in Iraq fighting terrorists. I don’t need to justify myself to anyone.”
When asked about her view on Collins’ argument that Gold Star families have become a pawn in this political discourse, Duckworth said she was “disgusted” because she “would never, ever use Gold Star families, military men and women or their families as any pawn in any political game.”
Duckworth then said that “this issue is about America’s national security” and “is not a partisan political issue.”
“My concern is: Is America safer today than it was before the President made this rash decision without considering the consequences and having a plan in place to handle the consequences?” Duckworth said. “And my answer at this point is no.”
Duckworth added that she is “not sad” that Soleimani is dead, but that “the poor handling of the White House” puts American forces “under greater danger of attacks from Iran and other hostile forces in the Middle East.”
“I am not sad that this man is dead. I am glad that he’s gone to meet his maker and that he will get his just desserts,” Duckworth said. “But at the end of the day, because of the poor handling of the White House and the consequences of their actions, American troops are now hunkered down. American forces are now under greater danger of attacks from Iran and other hostile forces in the Middle East.”
Duckworth also argued that because “now potentially we have innocent civilians who’ve been shot down by Russian-made missiles coming out of Iran,” she doubts that “this makes us or anywhere else in the world any safer today as a result of this poor decision by the President.”
Watch Duckworth’s remarks below:
Duckworth responds to Doug Collins' " Dems are in love with terrorists" comment: “I left parts of my body behind fighting terrorists in Iraq.” pic.twitter.com/xzvIJOTCF5
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) January 9, 2020
