WASHINGTON - Hours before the Pentagon announced Friday’s shakeup of the U.S. military leadership in Iraq, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates telephoned U.S.,Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri to give him the heads up.

Parker Eshelman photo

U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., sits Friday in his office in Washington, D.C., after talking with reporters. A member of the House Armed Services Committee since 1998, Skelton became chairman of the panel when Democrats won a majority in the House.

The call, which Skelton took while stuck in a rainstorm-induced traffic jam, was the latest sign of the veteran congressman’s recent rise to power.

The Department of Defense must keep Skelton in the loop because November’s election turned House control to the Democrats, and Skelton became chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

A soft-spoken country lawyer with a ravenous interest in history, Skelton knows better than most the historical significance of his new position at a time when the Iraq war is undergoing fresh and intense scrutiny.

"It’s a tremendous responsibility," said Skelton, who has been representing Missouri’s Fourth Congressional District for 30 years. "But at the same time, I will enjoy being a small part of writing tomorrow’s history. Actually, it’s a thrill."

Later this week, Skelton will chair committee hearings to question Gates and Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about the Iraq conflict. By that time, President George W. Bush’s new plan for prosecuting the war, possibly with 20,000 additional troops, is expected to be on the table.

Skelton believes it’s too late for that.

"The surge is about 3½ years late," Skelton said in an interview. "We should have surged with several hundred thousand when the war began and established stability."

Other Missouri lawmakers also have doubts about adding more troops. "What good is that going to do?" asked Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo. "I have seen nothing so far that would push me to think a surge is a good idea."

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said she would not consider approving more troops until the Bush administration explains what has gone wrong with the war.

Skelton voted for the resolution authorizing the use of military force in the Middle East. But at the same time, he raised red flags about what was happening.

In August 2002, about seven months before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Skelton said the biggest unanswered question was, "What do you do with Iraq once you topple Saddam Hussein?"

Nearly four years later, he said, the question has yet to be answered.

"I have not seen a real strategy come out of this administration that I recognize as a strategy for bringing stability to the country," Skelton said. "I know there is discussion of more troops, but what’s their mission?"

Skelton, who is from Lexington, has traced his ancestry back to Daniel Boone’s nephew, Squire Boone. A former Lafayette County prosecuting attorney, Skelton has degrees in history and law from the University of Missouri-Columbia and served in the state Senate before he was elected to Congress in 1976.

Throughout his life, Skelton, 75, has had an avid interest in military history. But any hopes he had for a military career were blocked when he contracted polio as a teenager, limiting the use of his arms.

Appointed to the Armed Services Committee in 1981, Skelton became its ranking member in 1998. A conservative Democrat, Skelton has been an outspoken supporter of the military and has called for more war college education for military officers.

Skelton has developed his own "National Security Book List," which he said should be required reading for all military officers, members of Congress and people interested in national security. The list can be found at www.house.gov/skelton/book_list.pdf.

One book not on Skelton’s list is historian Barbara Tuchman’s "March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam." That book, Skelton said, recounts several incidents when nations took actions that, viewed through the lens of history, were against their own national interests. "And sometimes I think the Iraq conflict could reflect another chapter of Barbara Tuchman’s book," Skelton said.

In addition to examining the Iraq war, Skelton said the committee would place a priority on "robust oversight" of the Pentagon and the Bush administration, something he said had not happened with a Republican majority.

The key problems with Iraq, in addition to not having enough force to provide security, were early decisions to disband the Iraqi army and fire members of the Ba’ath Party, who "made the trains run on time," Skelton said.

"We are there, and we can’t unring that bell," Skelton said. "The Middle East is such an unpredictable piece of the world, and it has the great economic asset, oil, which goes all over the world. Destabilizing that region could have an indirect effect elsewhere. I’m very concerned."

Pointing to another war in another time, Skelton said the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria has no apparent connection to the trench warfare that slaughtered millions in World War I. However, one event indirectly led to the other.

"We worry about this," Skelton said. "Where does it all end? Can it be contained in Iraq? Can it be contained in the Middle East?"

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