Skelton worried about 'hollow army'

Weakened by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. armed forces may lack the capability to answer to military conflicts threatening American interests here or elsewhere, U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton , D-Mo., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Saturday.

“We’re trying very hard to increase readiness in the military. I’m very concerned about readiness in the military,” said Skelton, whose 4th Congressional District includes Sedalia.

Skelton spoke to The Democrat during an interview here on the eve of Veterans Day. He planned to appear at a celebration in Jefferson City on Monday.

Skelton said he is concerned about having “a hollow army,” as was described in 1980 by then-Army Chief of Staff Gen. E. C. Meyer as he testified before the Armed Services Committee.

“Some of our testimony today is reflective of that,” he said. “The Army is much better today than it was then, but it’s stretched much too thin.”

American military readiness has been drained by the war in Iraq, he said, and the military is “strained like never before.”

Skelton expressed no hope for diplomacy in the Middle East or for political stability in the region.

“(Prussian military theorist Carl) von Clausewitz was correct when he wrote that war is politics by other means, and it worries me that we are in Iraq,” he said.

Iraqi political leaders have been given time by the troop surge to fulfill their duties, but “they’ve been sitting on their thumbs while men and women have been fighting their hardest against the insurgents and sectarian violence,” he said.

Unrest in Lebanon and Burma, the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinians, the insurgency and sectarian violence in Iraq, and the nuclear ambitions of Iran also create a worrying situation in the region, he said.

“You have the potential for a regional conflict in the Middle East that would be horrific,” he said. “These are things I worry about, and things I am trying to fix.”

Skelton said the committee this year re-established the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee, which had been disbanded under the Republican-controlled Congress.

He also cited as positive the passage Thursday by the House of the defense bill, which authorized $471 billion in military spending. Skelton said that he hopes the Senate will approve it this week.

Skelton also pointed to congressional approval of a $10 billion increase in veterans’ benefits, the highest in Veterans Administration’s 77-year history, and its work to address the shortages in nursing and medical staff.

“The care they (veterans) have been given needs some strong financial help,” he said.

While much of his work in Congress is tied to the armed services committee, Skelton also discussed the Water Resources Development Act, which Congress approved last week to override a presidential veto, citing its importance to agriculture.

The bill, in part, would provide funding to maintain and repair the locks and dams along the Mississippi River, which he said is used to transport agricultural products from the state to ports in the South.

“The bill passed with a large margin in both houses, and the president vetoed it, saying it was too expensive. Well, it’s more expensive if you don’t do it,” he said.

agualtieri@sedaliademocrat.com