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Governor is Critical of Court Funeral Protest Ruling

December 9, 2007 By

Governor Blunt criticizes a court ruling that has blocked enforcement of the state’s ban on protests at military funerals.

A preliminary injunction has been issued by the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals, preventing enforcement of the protest ban. The court has blocked enforcement until it can consider a challenge to the law’s constitutionality. The lawsuit was filed by the Phelps family of Topeka, Kansas which operates the Westboro Baptist Church and has become infamous for staging protests at military funerals across the country.

Governor Blunt says the court showed a callous disregard for the families of fallen servicemen. Blunt is especially critical of the court’s statement that it issued the preliminary injunction after deciding that such action will not cause substantial harm to others. Blunt argues it would be hard to convince the families of fallen military personnel of that.

And Blunt doesn’t buy the claim that the ban on such protests infringes on First Amendment rights. He says the First Amendments doesn’t confer absolute rights without restraint.

The Phelps family has filed suit to throw out the funeral protest ban. It claims it has a right to demonstrate at military funerals, because those funerals have become public events. The Phelps family claims American military deaths demonstrate God’s judgment on America for tolerating homosexuality.

The legislature approved the ban in response to the Phelps family protest at the funeral of Specialist Edward Lee Myers, which was held in St. Joseph in 2005 after his body was returned from Iraq.

Download/listen Brent Martin reports (:60 MP3)

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Skelton Praises Surge, Yet Worries About Iraqi Progress

November 25, 2007 By

Violence has fallen in Iraq since the United States fully employed the troop surge, but Missouri’s military expert in Congress says Iraq still has a long ways to go.

West-Central Missouri Congressman Ike Skelton (D-Lexington), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is pleased with the numbers: a 55% drop in attacks and a 60% drop in Iraqi civilian casualties. Skelton says that proves the troops have done their work. He says it’s past time for the Iraqi government to become fully functional. Skelton says the Iraqi government hasn’t taken advantage of the improvements. He says he wants the Shiites and the Sunnis reconcile their differences, begin to settle their differences so they can pass laws and take control of their own country. Skelton wants to see the Iraqi military begin to provide the security the country needs.

Skelton tells the Missourinet the Iraq war has put American military forces under incredible strain. He says it’s time for a "reasonable and responsible" deployment from Iraq. Skelton says President Bush listens when he expresses his concerns, but he says insofar as agreeing to a redeployment proposal, "there is a disagreement".

Download/listen Brent Martin reports (:60 MP3)

Filed Under: Military, Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Bond Makes Aggressive Defense of Iraq Strategy

October 3, 2007 By

Sen. Bond makes an aggressive defense of the Bush Administration’s strategy for the war in Iraq.

Bond, Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, insists the counter-insurgency plan put into place this year is working by aggressively battling the insurgents while training the Iraqi military to take over the country’s defense. Bond says that has allowed the military to bring units home.

Bond tells fellow Senators they need only read the notes found in the pocket of an al Qaeda leader who had recruited fighters from other countries to get a feel for the military progress in Iraq. The notes describe an embattled al Qaeda that is suffering under the increased pressure since the surge was fully implemented.

"We have hurt them and we have hurt them badly," Bond tells colleagues during his floor speech.

Bond concedes al Qaeda remains a threat, but says it is not basing its threat from Iraq. 

Download/listen Brent Martin reports (:60 MP3)

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Skelton Remains Skeptical of Progress in Iraq

September 10, 2007 By

On the eve of the sixth anniversary of the terrorist attacks against the United States, a tense meeting was held in Washington on just how much progress has been made in the Iraq war.

West-Central Missouri Congressman Ike Skelton, a Democrat, chaired the joint meeting of the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees. Skelton acknowledged progress from the military surge begun in February, but placed it in a historical prospective, "The surge is just the latest in a long line of operations. It frankly looks as if there has been tactical progress in the security area, but we should at this point temper any enthusiasm with the caveat that this is Iraq, and nothing has been easy there."

Skelton told the joint hearing that one of the great ironies of the hearing was the General David Petraeus "is almost certainly the right man for the job in Iraq, but he’s the right person three years too late and 250,000 troops short."

Patraeus stated he has recommended a drawdown of US force starting later this month with the withdrawal of a Marine unit. He said further withdrawals could continue into next year, with US troop strength reaching about 130,000 by mid-July 2008.

Skelton praised the work of the American military throughout his comments and stuck to a hard line on the Iraqi government

"It appears to this country lawyer that the leaders and parliamentarians of Iraq have been sitting on their thumbs while the young men and woman of America are doing their best to bring security (to Iraq)," Skelton stated in questioning Ambassador Ryan Crocker.

Crocker acknowledged that he is frustrated as well with the lack of political progress in Iraq.

Download/listen Brent Martin reports (:60 MP3)

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Skelton, Along with all Washington, Awaits Iraq Report

August 19, 2007 By

A major report on the progress, or the lack of progress, in Iraq is due in about a month.  A Missouri Congressman who will get a full report anxiously awaits its findings.

West-Central Missouri Congressman Ike Skelton, a Democrat, says his US House Armed Services Committee expects a forthright assessment from General David Patraeus and US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker.

The report will cover three areas:  the military effort of the United States and its allies, the training of Iraqi forces to take control of the country’s defenses and the progress to bring a stable democratic government to Iraq. It appears the troop surge has helped improve the military effort, but Skelton has not seen the progress he wants to see on the other two fronts. Skelton says it doesn’t appear like the Iraq military is even close to being able to take over the country’s defense and he says there seems to be little progress in the Iraqi government on targets Washington has set for them.

Skelton, along with everyone else in Washington, anxiously awaits the mid-September assessment. He says it has been built up as a major report to determine the future of Iraq and the United States’ participation in it. Skelton says, "Maybe it has been overblown, but we will see."

Download/listen Brent Martin reports (:60 MP3)

Filed Under: Military, Politics & Government Tagged With: ,
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