Free Republic

Rep. Ike Skelton endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, wading into the presidential fray after months on the sidelines. In a statement, Skelton, D-Mo., said he decided to back Clinton because of her support for "rural America, her commitment to National Security, and her dedication to our men and women in uniform." A spokeswoman said the Lexington Democrat, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, was not available for comment.

Even before Gen. David Petraeus began his account of the "substantial" progress brought about by the troop increase in Iraq, congressional critics of President Bush's policy had come to the depressing conclusion that the surge has done what the administration needed it to do. It has not won the war. It has not achieved reconciliation at the national level in Iraq. But it has bought more political time in Washington, bringing Bush closer than ever to reaching one of his main objectives: keeping large numbers of troops in Iraq beyond Election Day 2008. Yet if the testimony of Petraeus and...

Is Code Pink to the left what the Westboro Baptist Church is to the right? While the anti-war group and the anti-gay church denomination could not have more different politics, the bizarre tactics that both use seem so self-defeating as to give credence to conspiracy theories that they're not what they seem. The Topeka-based church, of course, is best known for attending the funerals of U.S. soliders with signs asserting that God is incurring His wrath upon America because of the country's tolerance for homosexuality. "God hates Fags" is a perennial favorite among Westboro's subtle sign-wavers. But just as the...

Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) has gathered at least 202 Congress members’ signatures for a request that participants of an intelligence cell that may have identified some of the Sept. 11 ringleaders a year before the attacks be allowed to testify before Congress. Weldon has been leading the crusade for months, but his colleagues, several of them prominent members of the GOP conference, now appear to be listening. Weldon plans to send the letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in the coming days requesting that he allow the participants in the cell known as “Able Danger” to testify in open congressional...

House and Senate Democratic leaders have joined together to urge President Bush to start bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq this year. The move is part of an effort to shake the notion that Democrats are split on the Iraq war and keep the focus on what they see as a winning issue against Republicans. Twelve Democrats, including the Senate and House minority leaders and ranking members of key committees, wrote President Bush on Sunday about the matter. "In the interests of American national security, our troops and our taxpayers, the open-ended commitment in Iraq that you have embraced cannot...

WASHINGTON –– Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, a leading figure on U.S. defense policy, Wednesday rejected calls by some Democratic Party leaders for a quick withdrawal from Iraq. The United States has no choice but to succeed in Iraq, said the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, which will require a “more responsible” plan than a pullout based on any kind of time frame, which he called “counterproductive.” “If we should pull out prematurely or allow there to be an unsuccessful conclusion, Iraq could become a snake pit for terrorists,” Skelton told reporters. “Further than that, it would...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A military vehicle carrying three congressmen overturned on the way to the Baghdad airport, injuring two of them, the U.S. Embassy said Sunday. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., was airlifted to a military hospital in Germany for an MRI on his neck, and Rep. Ike Skelton (news, bio, voting record), D-Mo., was sent to a Baghdad hospital for evaluation, said Rep. Jim Marshall (news, bio, voting record), D-Ga., who was also in the vehicle but was not hurt. Calls to Skelton and Murphy on Sunday were not immediately returned, but Marshall's spokesman Doug Moore said both suffered minor...

Two Congressmen injured after vehicle flips in Iraq A military vehicle carrying U.S. politicians overturned on the way to the Baghdad airport on Saturday and injured two members of Congress, said U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pennsylvania, was airlifted to a military hospital in Germany for an MRI on his neck, Marshall told the Macon Telegraph. Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Missouri, was sent to a Baghdad hospital, he said. Marshall, a Georgia Democrat, said he was not hurt. The congressional delegation was riding in a box-like vehicle that troops called the "ice cream truck" that streaked through the middle...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The wife of Missouri Congressman Ike Skelton has died. Susie Skelton was 69 when she died Tuesday morning at Research Medical Center in Kansas City. A statement from the congressman's office said she suffered a heart attack at her Lexington home. The Skeltons had just celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary in July. Susie Skelton turned 69 last Friday. Skelton is survived by her husband and three sons. Memorial arrangements have not been announced. Ike Skelton is the ranking Democratic member on the House Armed Services Committee. He's serving his 15th term in Congress. He was first elected...

The political recriminations from the cliffhanger passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement last week are even worse than we thought. Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader, is contemplating revenge against the 15 Democrats who had the nerve to vote for hemispheric growth and progress. The San Francisco Democrat called a caucus gripe session in the wake of last Wednesday's vote, and an article in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call suggested that Democrats who voted yes may lose their favorite committee assignments. Our John Fund reports on OpinionJournal.com that Democratic leaders are especially mad at two Black Caucus...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee urged the Army's top civilian official Monday to seriously consider allowing an Army Reserve unit to outfit its vehicles with homemade armor while serving in Iraq. Army policy generally prohibits troops from using equipment that has not been tested and approved by the military. But fearing roadside bombs and snipers, the 428th Transportation Company turned to local businessmen to fund and fabricate special steel plates for their five-ton trucks and Humvees, which have thin metal floorboards and, in some cases, a canvas covering for doors. The...

Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee returned from a recent tour of Iraq with a message for the American people: The establishment media is presenting a biased and unnecessarily negative portrayal of the military and political progress in the newly freed Middle East nation. "I flew from Baghdad to Kuwait with Sgt. Trevor A. Blumberg from Dearborn, Mich. He was in a body bag. He'd been ambushed and killed that afternoon," wrote Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Ga.) Monday in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Sitting in the cargo bay of a C 130E, I found myself wondering whether...

Journalists are giving a slanted and unduly negative account of events in Iraq, a bipartisan congressional group that has just returned from a three-day House Armed Services Committee visit to assess stabilization efforts and the condition of U.S. troops said. Lawmakers charged that reporters rarely stray from Baghdad and have a police-blotter mindset that results in terror attacks, deaths and injuries displacing accounts of progress in other areas. Comparisons with Vietnam were farfetched, members said. Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), the committee's ranking member, said, The media stresses the wounds, the injuries, and the deaths, as they should, but for instance...

Journalists are giving a slanted and unduly negative account of events in Iraq, a bipartisan congressional group that has just returned from a three-day House Armed Services Committee visit to assess stabilization efforts and the condition of U.S. troops said. Lawmakers charged that reporters rarely stray from Baghdad and have a “police-blotter” mindset that results in terror attacks, deaths and injuries displacing accounts of progress in other areas. Comparisons with Vietnam were farfetched, members said. Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), the committee’s ranking member, said, “The media stresses the wounds, the injuries, and the deaths, as they should, but for instance...

<p>The parents of an American soldier who died in Iraq after contracting a mysterious pneumonialike illness that ravaged his major organs are convinced that their son stumbled across deadly chemical weapons while clearing rubble from one of Saddam Hussein's palaces.</p>