That would be the sole judgment of the military commander, the U.S. military commander or the coalition commander.

I think we will pay a very heavy price.

To me they are two American heroes and I am grateful for their service.

I have been a strong supporter of the development of national missile defense because I do think that the threat to us is real and is growing.

I am more concerned about the decisionmaking process as to the deployment of U.S. military into a situation.

Well, I do not want to debate it, but I am hearing something different from the families.

This remarkable military accomplishment is proof of the professionalism and dedication of our military forces.

It is about the quality of the catastrophic effect of not having a defense in this situation.

If there was an imminent situation, would the decision be made by you?

Congress should write a check. In fact, we've been pressing to write a check, but not a blank check.

Is it not a fact that President Bush's action in leading the efforts on the war on terrorism made some real progress for us?

I've never seen, in 22 years in the United States Navy and now 22 years in Congress, anything like the deal that you tried to pull off.

So they haven't even begun the analysis of alternatives.

an argument could be made that designing a new destroyer is not the most cost-effective way to bring the Navy's fleet of ships into the 21st century.

Will your continued underfunding of this requirement not drive us toward a hollow force?

General Jumper, we understand that in recent conflicts, enemy air defenses have not been very capable. However, in future conflicts that is likely to change. How much does WCMD-ER decrease the survivability of the aircraft compared to…

Offensive military operations will continue against terrorist entities, those forces that are targeting Iraqi and coalition forces.

Does that mean that the decision to deploy troops into an area of conflict is made by the military commander, not by the Iraqi government?