Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/incoming-house-chairman-discusses-u-s-role-in-iraq Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., who will become the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee next month, discusses his new role and gives his assessment of the war in Iraq. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. RAY SUAREZ: Today in his news conference, the president said it was essential to what he called "adjust tactics" in Iraq and have Iraqis do more soon, but he concluded by saying, "I believe we're going to win." Do you share his optimism? REP. IKE SKELTON: What is winning? They've moved the goalposts on us.At first, as you know, it was ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction. Then it was establishing a democracy. And now it's quelling the sectarian violence. Really, what is winning in today's terms?I don't know what it is, but what we hope to end up with is a representative, effective government there that has stability throughout the nation, and that's probably as close to winning as we can really hope for, under the conditions that we have.You see, the type of conflict has changed. Initially, it was an insurgency, a Sunni-led insurgency, aided by foreign fighters, al-Qaida, criminals, and the like.And in more recent months, we have now a sectarian conflict between the Shiites and the Sunnis, and actually between the Shiite community itself. And the whole atmosphere and type of conflict has turned into a civil war of sorts.And what we hope some day will happen within the near future is a stable Iraq. But it's certainly not happening. And the attacks, as you know, are stepping up. They're becoming more and more every month. And, frankly, I'm very concerned.