Missouri’s Top Military Congressman Says House Debating Wrong Issue

Missouir’s top congressman on military matters supports a resoluton to stay the course in Iraq, although he says the House is arguing the wrong issue. Congressman Ike Skelton of Lexington has helped pass a resolution saying the United States will not pull out of Iraq until Iraqi forces are strong enough to keep the country secure. The resolution says the withdrawal will come only with careful coordination with the elected Iraq government, and the decision should be a joint one when Iraq is secure and is not a threat to its neighbors. Skelton says the real issue is when those security forces will be strong enough to protect their own nation. Skelton says only 5,000 Iraqi security forces have been trained in the last year, far too few. He says the allies need to be drawn into Iraq in heavy numbers to speed up that process before the public quits supporting American efforts there or before the strain of the conflict breaks the army. Skelton says he voiced those concerns to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld more than a month ago and has seen no changes in effort or policy.