I was left haunted by the destruction to God's creation caused by human conflict.

I just wanted to follow up briefly with some questions since I have an opportunity to meet with folks who might be relevant...

I think the area we have to focus on here--and we are in discussion--with China is with respect to domestic controls...

In your view, does this put our allies at any risk, in terms of their confidence about our willingness and ability to fight for their territorial issues?

there are real benefits to the United States in terms of navigational rights I would like to focus on.

So when we have successfully reasserted customary international law and leave a contested area, do these other nations sometimes then reassert their excessive claim?

the entire dangerous, risky, and provocative process could be avoided in some circumstances by ratifying this treaty and being able to contest excessive claims in the ways it allows us to do.

the real risk we face is that we are letting others draw boundaries, we are letting others set rules, we are leaving our economic interests out of the fight, and we are putting our national security interests at risk by failing to ratify…

I am concerned that the debate over this treaty is locked in a framework that is decades out of date.

freedom of navigation operations, which are provocative to nations, some of which are our allies, some of which are our opponents, have steadily increased in number, in seriousness, in cost and complexity over recent years.

Does failure to ratify this treaty, General Dempsey, in any way compromise the ability of the United States to project force around the world?

I just have to question your assertion that... U.S. accession to the Convention has become essential to the successful execution of the Navy's global mission.