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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hope Praytochange who wrote (754517)	11/18/2006 8:46:09 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 769670

Fight for a Senate Panel Post November 18, 2006 By THE NEW YORK TIMES nytimes.com WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 — Senator John W. Warner of Virginia touched off a Republican fight for the top party seat on the Senate environment committee Friday, announcing he wanted to use his seniority to bump Senator James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma from the spot. Mr. Warner, who is losing his senior position on the Armed Services Committee as a result of term limits, said he intended to ask his Republican colleagues to elect him as the ranking Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, which is likely to address global warming issues in the new Congress. The senator said his plan was in keeping with past Republican practice. But Mr. Inhofe, who has been outspoken in his skepticism that global warming is a result of human activity, said Friday that he would oppose Mr. Warner. “I have long been a friend of John Warner,” Mr. Inhofe said, “however, I think he has misunderstood the rules.” With Democrats winning control of the Senate on Nov. 7, Senator Barbara Boxer of California will be the new chairwoman of the environment committee. She has indicated that legislation to curb global warming will be a chief priority. Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

To: Hope Praytochange who wrote (754517)	11/18/2006 8:48:12 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 769670

Skelton to Prioritize Pentagon Oversight By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS November 18, 2006 Filed at 2:30 a.m. ET nytimes.com WASHINGTON (AP) -- A student of military history, Missouri Rep. Ike Skelton recently pulled out his latest reading, a 1926 tome about the disastrous allied campaign at Gallipoli during World War I. The title: ''The Perils of Amateur Strategy.'' ''This administration seems to be writing its sequel,'' Skelton says, shaking his head. Poised to become the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee in January, the Missouri Democrat plans to devote top priority to tougher oversight of the Pentagon and the Bush administration's Iraq strategy. Known as a conservative Democrat and one of Congress' most devoted supporters of the military, Skelton has become increasingly critical of the war and frustrated that no one in the Pentagon seems to be listening. ''In terms of knowing what the past teaches us about Iraq and the global war on terror, he's about as good as it gets,'' said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va. Skelton, who turns 75 next month, speaks in careful, measured tones, his voice barely above a whisper at times. Growing up in a military family in Lexington, Mo., his heroes were those who went off in uniform to serve in World War II. A bout with polio as a teenager limited the use of his arms and dashed his dream of a military career, but not his love of the armed forces. He devours books on the great battles of history and can talk with ease about the Battle of the Bulge or Pericles' defensive strategy against the Spartans. Skelton calls his study of military history a hobby, but his encyclopedic knowledge could rival that of some top generals. Earlier this year, the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va., renamed its military library for Skelton. From the beginning of the Iraq war, Skelton was asking the White House what its plan was after toppling Saddam Hussein. He warned President Bush how difficult it would be to occupy a land torn by ethnic tensions. His concerns were always dismissed, he says. ''I don't think they listened to my recommendations very carefully,'' Skelton said in an interview. ''I was right in some of them. I hate going around saying, 'I told you so,' but I am.'' Unlike some of his colleagues -- notably Democratic Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, who made headlines calling for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq -- Skelton carefully avoids using the term ''withdrawal.'' He's still pressing the same formula he proposed more than a year ago to reassign one American brigade for every three Iraqi brigades that are considered capable. Like Skelton's other ideas, that too was rejected. Bush called the plan too rigid, though it's based on benchmarks of progress, rather than a specific timetable, which Bush has said would encourage the insurgents. With his new authority over the Armed Services Committee, Skelton said he hopes Pentagon officials will start listening. One of his top priorities is re-establishing a subcommittee on oversight and investigation that can review mistakes. The panel was disbanded when Republicans gained control of the House in 1994. ''What did Harry Truman say? He told the truth and the Republicans thought it was hell,'' Skelton said. ''We need truthful, solid answers to a lot of the questions. That's what oversight and investigations can give us.'' He is also concerned that Army and Marine forces are stretched so thin in Iraq and Afghanistan that they won't be able to respond to another global conflict. Skelton's credibility with military leaders could make him a powerful force on the committee. ''I expect Skelton will have enough of a notion of pragmatism and independence of attitude that he uses the committee in a more effective way than it has in recent years,'' said Michael O'Hanlon, a defense expert at the Brookings Institution. Last year, Skelton had perhaps his closest brush with combat -- during a trip to Iraq. A tanker truck accidentally sideswiped and flipped over the armored bus carrying him and two other lawmakers. Skelton was not seriously injured but was hospitalized for four days at a U.S. military hospital in Germany with back and neck pain. ''It made me appreciate the medical care our troops get,'' he said. ^------ On the Net: House Armed Services Committee: house.gov Copyright 2006 The Associated Press