Skelton: Ambivalence on Afghanistan 'could wreck America'

Divisions are widening among Democrats over what the U.S. should do about Afghanistan.

House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) on Thursday said he’s livid that “no one gives a damn” about what’s going on in Afghanistan – a situation that could “wreck” the United States.

“(There are) two things that could wreck America,” said Skelton, who is serving his 17th term in the House.

“The economy – we go into a deep recession or depression. Number two is Afghanistan and the terrorist threat. They could cause attacks like that again. That’s why we are there – to protect attacks against it,” Skelton said.

Skelton said the president should listen to General Stanley McChrystal, the top commander of U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan, who has delivered a report to the president that is expected to request additional to fight resurgent Taliban extremists.

But that is setting up a fight within the Democratic Party between centrists, such as Skelton, and liberals who want to wind down the U.S. presence in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that many lawmakers don’t have the appetite to send more troops to Afghanistan.

“I don't think there's a great deal of support for sending more troops to Afghanistan in the country or in the Congress,” Pelosi told reporters.

Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, said Friday that adding more troops would cut in to an already over-taxed Pentagon due to Obama’s initial increase of troops to Afghanistan. He also noted that Americans, according to some polls, oppose increasing the U.S. presence in that country.

“The public is against this deployment,” Murtha told The Hill. “Now when they want to increase the number of troops by 22,000 they have to cut into the muscle of the defense department in order to fund it.”

Murtha is to meet with CIA Director Leon Panetta and White House National Security Advisor James Jones to discuss the assessment of the situation.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by liberal members introduced a bill to block a decision that the president made earlier this year to redeploy 21,000 troops to Afghanistan before the end of 2009. Any request from McChrystal for additional troops would be in addition to that request.

Skelton and ranking member Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) have called on the Pentagon to have McChrystal appear before the Armed Services panel to answer questions after he makes his assessment of the situation on the ground in Afghanistan.