Representative Ike Skelton

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Contact: Lara Battles or
Friday, October 20, 2006	Whitney Frost (202)225-2876

SKELTON STATEMENT REGARDING VIOLENCE IN AMARA, IRAQ

Lexington, Missouri – Congressman Ike Skelton (D-MO), the Ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, released the following statement regarding recent violence in Amara, Iraq:

“The flare-up of violence in Amara, Iraq, points out that our strategy to quell the violence in that country is failing.

It was one year ago today, October 20, 2005, that I sent a letter to the President spelling out one possible formula for redeployment of our troops and transitioning the security of that country to the Iraqi military and police: for every 3 Iraqi brigades trained to the highest level, 1 American brigade could be redeployed. Also in that letter, I urged faster and better training of Iraqi forces using the best American forces as advisors. A year later, force levels have not come down and indeed have been increased to deal with the sectarian violence in Baghdad and recent reports demonstrate deep problems with the training and performance of many Iraqi security forces.

Sadly, the eruptive situation in Iraq reflects that we are reaping the ultimate results of perils of the amateur strategy formulated by our civilian leaders in the early phases of this conflict. Further, the Administration failed to follow General Colin Powell’s doctrine regarding the initiation of warfare:

The military operation should have a clear and achievable mission;
The military operation should have strong public support;
The military operation should utilize overwhelming force; and
The military operation should have an explicit exit strategy.

I am deeply concerned about any measure of success in Iraq unless there is a major change in strategy that will shift the military mission to the Iraqis, allowing for the redeployment over time of American forces, and that will pressure the Iraqi government to disarm the militias.”

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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.