In a recent letter posted on House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s website, the GOP revealed their strategic angle on the Iraq escalation debate. In the letter GOP Reps. John Shadegg and Peter Hoekstra told their collegues that the best way to argue the debate with the Democrats is to NOT talk about Iraq, because they’ll lose.
We are writing to urge you not to debate the Democratic Iraq resolution on their terms, but rather on ours.
Democrats want to force us to focus on defending the surge, making the case that it will work and explaining why the President's new Iraq policy is different from prior efforts and therefore justified.
We urge you to instead broaden the debate to the threat posed to Americans, the world, and all "unbelievers" by radical Islamists. We would further urge you to join us in educating the American people about the views of radical Islamists and the consequences of not defeating radical Islam in Iraq.
The debate should not be about the surge or its details. This debate should not even be about the Iraq war to date, mistakes that have been made, or whether we can, or cannot, win militarily. If we let Democrats force us into a debate on the surge or the current situation in Iraq, we lose.
| Read the full letter (PDF) |
You know at least the GOP are self-aware and know where they stand on this debate. It’s nice to know that the GOP priority is in simply not losing the debate, and not whether or not escalation is the best thing for our troops, for America and for the Global War on Islamo-fascist Terrorism (or whatever they’re calling it these days).