Fourth District Congressman Ike Skelton, D-Lexington, says the U. S. needs to begin pulling its troops out of Iraq and turn over security functions to the Iraqis.
Skelton's comments were made during a visit in Sedalia Thursday:
"We have to make sure the Iraqi government and military can do the job," Mr. Skelton said.
"We can't continually hold their hand."
Skelton is the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.
I often find myself agreeing with Rep. Skelton but I don't on this matter. I think we can do a lot of harm to Iraq and the Middle East by withdrawing too quickly.
ReplyDeleteHow much more money do you want us to spend and how many more people are you willing to watch other families lose and grieve over in Iraq?
ReplyDeleteThe Shiites in Iraq now have something they never could have achieved when Saddam was involved; power... control of the government. This must make Shiite Iran very happy.
Women didn't have to wear burkas in Iraq under Saddam. They do now.
If Bush continues his military adventurism, we are very likely to lose cooperation from the few friendly Arab countries that we have. Even worse is the potential that Hezbollah, the Shiites, and the other anti-American factions may be able to overthrow those Arab governments which are still American friendly.
The harm has already been done. We may see ourselves as generous and wonderful, but too many in Iraq see us from an entirely different perspective that is not pretty and not flattering.
Randy, I am so glad that you have personal experience in military service and have roamed the world to learn how others think and live.
ReplyDeleteBased on all that great experience you are able to pick and choose the comments that we dummies need to hear. Of all the comments that come across the web each day, how could we get along without you deciding what we ought to read.
What my lack of military experience has to do with anything, I don't know. I try to put the views of Roy Blunt and Ike Skelton on a number of issues on this website, since they are the two congressmen who represent this area of southwest Missouri. If Skelton had come out in favor of staying in Iraq, I would have printed that, too. On the other hand, if you think I am presuming to tell "dummies" what to think, why do you keep coming back?
ReplyDeleteBecause I am a dummy who can't think for myself and I need the wisdom of Randy Solomon to feed my brain....and to challenge anything that I feel needs a challenge.
ReplyDeleteRandy, I am not sure where your friend is coming from or where they are going, but I for one appreciate your articles. I see you covering both sides of the aisle and can remember when the majority of State and National offices were held by Democrats you covered them the same way.
ReplyDeleteIt seems these thin skinned republicans that attack you are too shallow to take on the responsibilities of our Government and still want to blame everybody and anybody else for this administrations failures. There are some things that are out of our elected officials control but if they want to take all of the credit when times are good they should be prepared to take the blame in bad times as well.
Thanks for taking the time to cover the news and as all reporters do, you are entitled to reflect your opinion when writing your articles.