PRE-Address

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August 31, 2010

House GOP leader to make 'prebuttal' on upcoming Obama speech

Posted: 09:11 AM ET

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CNN Wire Staff


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(CNN) - House Republican leader John Boehner will lay out a "prebuttal" ahead of President Barack Obama's prime time speech on Iraq Tuesday night.

Boehner will speak to about 10,000 people Tuesday afternoon at the 92nd American Legion National Convention in Milwaukee on Iraq and other national security issues, including Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Obama's Oval Office address is timed to coincide with the official end of the U.S. military's combat mission in Iraq.

In an op-ed published Friday in the conservative news site Human Events, Boehner said Tuesday's shift of U.S. forces from combat to an advisory mission "was made possible by the very surge that President Obama and Vice President Biden opposed."

"With all due respect to them, our troops who have served so courageously in Iraq deserve the credit for the success of the surge and, along with the Iraqi people, the turnaround in Iraq," he said.

"Then-Sen. Barack Obama, who campaigned on his opposition to the Iraq war, flatly declared that the troop surge would not work," Boehner said in the editorial.

Boehner says that at the time, Obama said: "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse."

The president's speech -- set to start at 8 p.m. ET -- is expected to last about 15 minutes.

The total number of U.S. troops in Iraq has now fallen below 50,000 -- the lowest level since the U.S-led invasion in 2003.

The remaining American troops will train, assist and advise the Iraqis.

Obama's remarks will also touch on Afghanistan and the broader war against terrorism, the White House said last week.

On Afghanistan, Boehner will challenge the president to keep American troop levels strong until security has been stabilized.

"I support our counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, but the president must do more to emphasize his commitment to ensuring its success rather than focusing on meeting arbitrary deadlines for withdrawal," Boehner says in the text of his prepared remarks.

President Barack Obama has ordered a withdrawal to begin in less than a year, although he has not said how many U.S. troops should withdraw or how fast when that July 2011 deadline arrives.

"Using campaign promises as a yardstick to measure success in Iraq and Afghanistan runs the risk of triggering artificial victory laps and premature withdrawal dates unconnected to conditions on the ground," Boehner says.

Also in his prepared remarks, Boehner will encourage the Obama administration to continue America's support for Israel and warns that Iran "is the true source of instability in the region."

On the economy, the Republican Congressman will call for a change in the president's economic plan, saying "Stimulus' spending sprees, permanent bailouts, federal mandates and government takeovers have failed this nation."