I do not question the Chairman's motivation. He is a very fine man, and I think he is rightly disturbed by some of the decisions that were made in the past, and so have I been.

I am so afraid that what we are doing here today is going to chill out the legal advice to come in the future.

But the principle that I am advocating is an aggressive, forward-leaning, 'hit them before they hit us' attitude.

My goal is to have a process... that would allow us as a Nation to hold our head up high...

If we restrict ourselves to the Army Field Manual, shame on us.

I do not doubt that you are trying to help the country.

I also want to acknowledge the tireless work of Senator Feinstein...

Isn't the problem in this war that, No. 1, al Qaeda is not a signatory to the Convention.

If we are going to find out who did what when, we need to find out who was told about it and when they were told about it.

Let me conclude by saying what a very sad day it is for America and for the Department of Justice...

The Geneva Convention to me has always been a warehousing agreement between the signatory nations.

I have always believed that when you engage in harsh interrogation techniques like waterboarding, eventually it comes back to bite you.

What if it were your son or daughter that was killed by one of these guys? How would you feel about it?

I completely disagree with that.

Let's have both sides of the story here.

I think we have cleaned up this mess.

I believe in the Geneva Convention. I believe that the moment we capture somebody, the obligation falls upon us to abide by the Convention.

What happened on September 11, 2001, was unprecedented. It was the most vicious attack on our homeland by a foreign entity in the history of the Nation.

I appreciate what you are telling us.

Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, OK? That is part of his legacy, is he thought the Nation was coming apart, and he was right.

We have made mistakes in this war. We are going to make new ones.

It is not really fair to sit here in the quiet peace of the moment and put ourselves in such a holier-than-thou position, because you do not have to make that decision. They did.

I do believe we need to close Guantanamo Bay.

I think we are at war, and the people we are prosecuting did not rob a liquor store. They are an ongoing military threat.

This is not the whole story.