When the 110th Congress takes it’s place in January, Missouri Representative Ike Skelton will take over as the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. When Representative Skelton, who has able represented the Missouri 4th for 30 years takes over as HASC chairman, oversight of the Pentagon and the Bush administrations strategy will be top priorities. Skelton has enjoyed a reputation as a conservative Democrat for a hell of a lot longer than it has been cool to be a conservative Democrat, Skelton is a devoted supporter of the military; but he has become increasingly critical of the war in Iraq and expressed frustration that no one at the pentagon seemed to be listening. From the very first moments of the war, he has been demanding of the administration what exactly it’s plans were for a post-Saddam Iraq. He warned the President how difficult it would be to occupy a land torn by sectarian and ethnic hostilities.
No one listened to his wise counsel. Without coming right out and saying “I told you so, you feckless thugs!” he instead takes the high road of the gentleman “I don’t think they listened to my recommendations very carefully, but I was right in some of them.”
Skelton will be an asset to the House Armed Services Committee, and the troops will be the winners. This president, the Defense Department must be brought to heel, and ike Skelton, wise, soft-spoken, intelligent and well-versed is the perfect man for the job.
