Joe Lieberman

This heightened sensitivity, very difficult, I understand, because the data flowing by people and all the components of the Department of Homeland Security and intelligence divisions every day is large

The intent of our rules of engagement is always to protect our forces, to never take away from our forces the ability to protect themselves.

It does remain important to the American people, indeed the people of the world, that one day Osama bin Laden is either captured or killed or brought to justice.

We absolutely do. On a daily basis, they are meeting and working.

It's obvious that he disagrees on the question of the deadline, or whatever one calls it, for July 2011, exit strategy.

That is why I believe there is no substitute for victory over the Islamist extremists and terrorists in Afghanistan.

Am I right that, in the policy that the President announced last night, which does begin a transfer of security responsibility of July 2011 to the Afghans, there is no deadline for the end of that transfer; it will be based on conditions…

I hope that fact will inspire and encourage a majority of members of both political parties to do the same and to, thereby, show that America's political leadership is still capable of suspending partisanship at the water's edge when our…

I want to ask you, as I read your words today, am I correct in concluding that what will definitely begin in July 2011 is a transfer of security responsibility to the Afghans, but may not include, immediately, a withdrawal of our forces…

A war of necessity must not just be fought, it must, of necessity, be won.

We're not just going to throw the Afghans into the pool and run away, until we're sure that they can swim on their own.

I agree with what Senator McCain said, that the President has made the right decision in embracing a counterinsurgency strategy for Afghanistan and resourcing it properly.

I don't want to do anything as part of the health care reform that makes our economic crisis, our unemployment rate worse than it already is.

I want to thank the Chairman for initiating this very important investigation and to express my appreciation to all of you today for your forthright, candid, and expert testimony.

The point is that information must be shared with those that have the ability to understand the full context and take action.

Well said. Thank you.

Well, it would depend, I assume, what that would mean. In other words, I presume you would watch that person more carefully or take more aggressive action.

It is too early to say for sure, but that we did have a failure to share critical information.

Yes, and as I stated earlier, Senator, I think the process would be to reach out to our Internal Affairs Bureau to move that up the chain of command so that got the appropriate level of attention.

If the Army and the rest of the services make clear that Islamist extremist behavior is not tolerated and you have an obligation to report it right away, you will be doing an enormous favor to all the other Muslim-American soldiers who…

It is no longer a moral act of courage but, rather, an obligation to report disturbing information.

I think who you reach out to for theological or doctrinal questions does give some indication to some degree to what message you are looking for.

Of course, I agree not only was it outrageous, but as you said, it hurts our efforts to succeed in this conflict.

What then is the responsibility of an individual soldier who hears a fellow soldier express political views that he deems are extremist?

So we will definitely pursue that, and that may be an area of recommendation for us.