Bill Nelson

I just want to put on the record the role that Major General Stone played in Iraq.

Okay, any concluding thoughts?

This is a very timely topic.

My definition of victory has been, for the last 6 years, that this ideological war ends when nonviolent Muslims feel empowered and cause violent Islamists in their faith to be marginalized.

I think this is a terrible, terrible mistake, given the mission that the United States has right now.

It just drives me bats when I hear, 'Well, we have the resources to dig a well, but we don't have the resources to go over here and help with education.'

Is this working to CVE?

What can we do, in Congress, to help you bridge the differences so that you're not 'largely' working together, but that you're more completely working together?

Some of my proudest moments are seeing Americans abroad doing their daily task at a local level...

How much of that assistance is going into education, where you can send a kid for $50 a year to school?

I think, in terms of emerging threats, we all know Iran is the real existential threat, I think, to the Middle East, to Europe, and to us.

General, your troops find a much more acceptable audience in those villages, don't they, when the deradicalization through what we've just been talking about, about the true teachings of Islam, is taught?

Now, what they've done is, they've taken the Koran and they've made it to say something that it isn't.

Is it curious that, in the first panel, that the word 'madrassa' was never uttered?

Gitmo has served its purpose, but now it's more of a problem than it is an asset.

You're saying that the U.S. Government really doesn't understand the concept of violent jihadists.

The challenge of CVE is a challenge of the entire globe.

So, Mr. Ambassador, you think there is a resourcing and capacity gap?

So, how do you go about countering that, Mr. Ambassador?

Let's take, for example, what we've just done in Afghanistan, where we went successfully into this town, Marjah.

What I'm very concerned about is the combination of Iran with Venezuela, and the knowledge that we have, that Hamas and Hezbollah are trying to set up shop and do have some operations in this hemisphere.

How do you build that capacity? What are you specifically doing with those religious leaders that you mentioned?

Do those local officials know the true teachings of the Koran? Or have they been brainwashed into what the violent extremist version taught by some of the elements of al Qaeda say the teachings are?

Gentlemen, what are you doing to make it less attractive for people to be converted to violent extremism?

I am deeply concerned about the way terrorist organizations--al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Hamas--are funded.