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EXCLUSIVE: Majority Leader Boehner’s Confidential Strategy Memo For Thursday’s Iraq Debate
"This material [article] was created by the American Progress Action Fund"
On Thursday, the House of Representatives will hold a debate on the Iraq war. Media reports say Majority Leader John
Boehner (R-OH) “hopes to match the serious, dignified tone of deliberation that preceded the Gulf war, in 1991.”
ThinkProgress has obtained a “Confidential Messaging Memo” from Boehner instructing his caucus to conduct a very
different kind of deliberation. Here’s a quick summary:
1. Exploit 9/11. The two page memo mentions 9/11 seven times. It describes debating Iraq in the context of 9/11 as “imperative.”
2. Attack opponents ad hominem. The memo describes those who opposes President Bush’s policies in Iraq as “sheepish,” “weak,” and “prone to waver
endlessly.”
3. Create a false choice. The memo says the decision is between supporting President Bush’s policies and hoping terrorist threats will “fade away
on their own.”
You can read the confidential memo for yourself HERE or below.
Confidential Messaging Memo – Floor Debate on Iraq and the Global War on Terror
To: House Republican Members
From: House Majority Leader John A. Boehner
Date: June 13, 2006
Re: Confidential Messaging Memo – Floor Debate on Iraq and the Global War on Terror
This week, the House of Representatives will engage in a debate about the war in Iraq, the Global War on Terror and our
efforts to strengthen our national security in a post-9/11 world.
The past week has brought news of several important, positive developments in Iraq and the Global War on Terror:
– U.S. military forces eliminated the terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda’s top commander in Iraq and a
cold-blooded killer.
– The Iraqi government named new interior, defense and security ministers as part of the new government’s continued
progress.
– Just this morning, President George W. Bush traveled to Baghdad to meet the newly appointed Prime Minster of Iraq,
Nouri al-Maliki and to discuss our growing partnership with the new democratic ally.
Clearly, these positive developments are the result of steadfast support of both our military and diplomatic efforts in
Iraq and across the globe. We should not refrain from touting such progress
During this debate, our Republican Conference should be focused on delivering these key points:
The Importance of Our Actions
It is imperative during this debate that we re-examine the conditions that required the United States to take military
action in Afghanistan and Iraq in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001.
The attacks we witnessed that day serve as a reminder of the dangers we face as a nation in a post-9/11 world. We can no
longer expect oceans between us and our enemies to keep us safe. The plotting and planning taking place in terror camps
protected by rogue regimes could no longer go unchecked or unchallenged. In a post-9/11 world, we could no longer allow
despots and dictators like the Taliban and Saddam Hussein to ignore international sanctions and resolutions passed by
the United Nations Security Council.
So, during this debate we must make clear to the American people that the United States had to take action in the best
interests of the security of our nation and the world community. As Republicans who supported military action against
Saddam Hussein and terrorists around the globe, the United States had to show our resolve as the world’s premier
defender of freedom and liberty before such ideals were preyed upon, rather than after standing witness to their demise
at the hands of our enemies.
As President John F. Kennedy once stated so eloquently:
“The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is
the path of surrender, or submission.”
A Portrait of Contrasts
This debate in the House of Representatives gives our Republican Conference the opportunity to present the American
people our case for strong national security policies whose purpose is to protect the nation against another attack on
our own soil.
Similarly, we must conduct this debate as a portrait of contrasts between Republicans and Democrats with regard to one
of the most important political issues of our era. Articulating and advocating our core principles will allow the
American public to witness Members of Congress debate a fundamental question facing America’s leaders:
In a post-9/11 world, do we confront dangerous regimes and the threat of terrorism with strength and resolve, or do we
instead abandon our efforts against these threats in the hopes that they will just fade away on their own?
Republicans believe victory in Iraq will be an important blow to terrorism and the threat it poses around the world.
Democrats, on the other hand, are prone to waver endlessly about the use of force to protect American ideals. Capitol
Hill Democrats’ only specific policy proposals are to concede defeat on the battlefield and instead, merely manage the
threat of terrorism and the danger it poses.
These are troubling policies to embrace in a post-9/11 world. During this debate, we need to clarify just how wrong the
Democrats’ weak approach is and just how dangerous their implementation would be to both the short-term and long-term
national security interests of the United States.
Resolve Will Triumph Over Retreat
As a result of our efforts during this debate, Americans will recognize that on the issue of national security, they
have a clear choice between a Republican Party aware of the stakes and dedicated to victory, versus a Democrat Party
without a coherent national security policy that sheepishly dismisses the challenges America faces in a post- 9/11
world.
Let there be no doubt that America and its allies in the war in Iraq and the Global War on Terrorism face difficult
challenges. The American people are understandably concerned about our mission in a post-Saddam Iraq. There have been
many tough days since Iraq’s liberation and transition to a sovereign democracy.
Democrats are all too eager to seize upon the challenges we face as their rationale or motivation for retreat. As
Republicans, we understand the diplomatic and national security hazards of such a move. We must echo the American
public’s understanding of just how great the stakes are in Iraq and our long-term efforts to win the War on Terrorism.
Building democracies in a part of the world that has known nothing but tyranny and despotism is a difficult task. But
achieving victory there and gaining democratic allies in the region will be the best gift of security we can give to
future generations of Americans.
View the original PDF of this memo HERE - http://images1.americanprogress.org/il80web20037/ThinkProgress/2006/boehnermemo.pdf.
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