Representative Ike Skelton

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Contact: Lara Battles or
Thursday, June 15, 2006	Whitney Frost (202)225-2876

SKELTON OPPOSES HOUSE GOP IRAQ RESOLUTION

Washington, DC – Congressman Ike Skelton (D-MO), the Ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, released the following statement in opposition to H. Res. 861, the Iraq resolution considered by the U.S. House of Representatives today:

“For far too long, Congress has avoided a serious debate on the United States’ policy in Iraq. We were promised a debate in the House on Iraq, but the resolution before us today fails to deliver on that commitment because the Republican leadership and the Administration refuse to accept the fact that the insurgency in Iraq and the global war on terror are two separate and distinct conflicts.

I cannot and will not accept that assumption. The American people know and understand that our country faces more than one challenge in the world. We do our nation, our American service members, and our allies a disservice by insisting that these two wars are one and the same.

More than anything, I want our efforts in Iraq to succeed, but our nation is at a strategic crossroads. We cannot afford to ignore the impact the war in Iraq is having on our current and future ability to keep the American people safe from another threat – wherever we may face it. We need a plan for responsible redeployment as soon as practicable, not only for the situation in Iraq, but especially because the long term health of our military depends on it.

As it is, I fear that we may already be eating our military’s seed corn. We are spending $8 billion a month and have spent over $300 billion on this war so far. Equipment in Iraq is wearing out at 2 to 9 times the peacetime rate. I am so proud of our men and women in uniform, but we are wearing them out with repeated deployments. Each month we are losing a battalion’s worth of casualties, killed and injured, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Last year’s defense authorization bill, which Congress passed and the President signed into law, says “calendar year 2006 should be a period of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty, with Iraqi security forces taking the lead for the security of a free and sovereign Iraq, thereby creating the conditions for the phased redeployment of United States forces from Iraq.” Not only is this the law of the land, but making this the year of significant transition provides a way forward.

We as a country cannot determine the fate of Iraq. The Iraqis have to do it themselves – their own government, their own military, their own police force. After more than 3 years, it is time for us to seriously examine where we are, where we are going, and do our very best to keep our military strong so that we can prepare for the future challenges that will undoubtedly face our country in the years to come.”

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Congressman Ike Skelton (D-MO) serves as Ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. For further information, please contact Lara Battles or Whitney Frost at (202)225-2876, or check Congressman Skelton's web site at http://www.house.gov/skelton.