FOX "Fox And Friends"-Transcript

Interview

FOX "Fox And Friends"-Transcript

MR. DOOCY: Here to discuss the latest happenings, House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio.

Good morning to you, sir.

REP. BOEHNER: Steve, good morning.

MR. DOOCY: So you guys are going to be pretty much like 7-11 -- you're never going to close. Is that what I hear?

REP. BOEHNER: Well, they want to continue to talk about Iraq all day every day while the nation's business continues to go undone. You know, it's just been seven weeks since we gave the president the money to fully fund our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of September, and I and many Republicans on Capitol Hill believe that we ought to allow General Petraeus' plan a chance to succeed. He's only had his full complement of troops in Iraq for the last three weeks.

MR. DOOCY: Right.

REP. BOEHNER: And so we really -- there's a lot of success that's happening on the ground. Baghdad is in fact becoming more secure. Al Qaeda is becoming more desperate. And we ought to give this chance a plan to succeed. And then in September we ought to take a look at what his report has to say.

MR. DOOCY: Okay. So in the meantime, the Democrats who control the Senate chamber are going to schedule votes through the night, they're going to keep everybody there. Is this just a political stunt?

REP. BOEHNER: That's all it is. It's a political stunt. We had a vote in the House last week -- they told us Tuesday night, "On Thursday we're going to have this big debate." We had the debate. The Republicans have held together because we really do believe that we gave the general the money for the troops, the effort through September -- let's give this chance a plan to succeed.

MR. DOOCY: Right.

Let me ask you about this, Congressman: There's a report out today that maybe the White House is thinking -- regarding the surge -- maybe they need even more troops for the surge -- a super-surge.

REP. BOEHNER: Well, I'm not sure that I'm buying that line. I think that last week Peter Pace suggested that the Pentagon, when they do their planning, they look at all different types of scenarios, all different types of options. But I don't believe this is an option that's seriously on the table.

MR. DOOCY: All right.

What about the number of members of your party who are no longer standing with the president of the United States regarding Iraq? They're closer to the Democratic point of view.

REP. BOEHNER: Well, listen: You know, we've got Democrats, Republicans -- we have Democrats on the Hill who are supportive of General Petraeus, supportive of our efforts in Iraq. We've got a few Republicans who want to change course. That's not unusual in a time of war.

This is a -- the fight that we have in Iraq today is really with al Qaeda and the fact that Iran continues to stir up sectarian violence in Baghdad.

MR. DOOCY: All right.

REP. BOEHNER: That's the big enemy. And if we don't take on al Qaeda in Iraq, where do we draw the line? This is a very determined enemy.

Today the National Intelligence Estimate will be out, talking about -- as I understand it -- the fact that al Qaeda really has grown in strength. They're a serious threat. It will also say that we've made real progress in taking down al Qaeda, crippling their efforts and making America more safe.

MR. DOOCY: All right.

House Minority Leader John Boehner. We thank you very much, sir, for joining us today from Capitol Hill.

REP. BOEHNER: Thank you.

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