The House Republicans don’t want to talk about the war. Their defensive play of the week is to avoid the Iraq debate going on in the House. The following is from a letter circulated by Republican leadership and obtained by Steny Hoyer:

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.

You can read the full letter here on Hoyer’s website (PDF File).

The most disturbing part seems to be the last part ; “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”. YES that is exactly what the debate should be about. The Republicans have put in writing their downfall last year. That downfall has been to “stick their heads in the sand”. They continually ignored the problems in Iraq and that is why we are in the mess we are today.

Support our troops? How the hell can they say they support our troops when they don’t even want to talk about the very situation they are in? The only people these Republicans support are the party. It sounds eerily like the old Soviet days. Some one needs to inform them that they represent the people (of which 2/3 oppose the surge) and not the party. 2008 is approaching fast and with this kind of behavior I can easily see the Democratic majority grow in the House. They are listening to the people some what, which is much more then the Republicans are.

TPM and Think Progress have much more on this.