Joe Manchin

The President's stated goal is to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda and prevent their return to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

A culture that has allowed massive waste of taxpayers' dollars has become business as usual at DOD.

I think you've seen or you've been hearing about our debt discussions that we've had.

we have to have a presence there.

This will require not just good leadership; it will require a change in culture at DOD.

The Taliban insurgency is in the tens of thousands. Al Qaeda would be under 50,000 or so, 50,000 to 75,000.

it is my great honor to speak on the floor for the first time as a Senator. I am truly humbled by this auspicious occasion and the enormous privilege to serve the greatest people in America--the people of West Virginia. West Virginia may…

Basically we get, as a country and our general fund, no return on the investment we're making.

We seek a country that is sovereign, stable and self-reliant, with a government that is just, representative and accountable.

Does it not make a little bit of----

Basically, those of us who lived through the 1974 oil embargo and saw what it had done and how it crippled the Nation.

We cannot afford to let the gains we have sacrificed so much for slip away.

We were worried, and were saying so at the time, that this endeavor would harm the country's economy, that it would blow the top off of the price of oil.

There were concerns that I shared and wrote about before the invasion, that the invasion of Iraq would create the temptation or the possibility of a long-term occupation by the United States.

We cannot afford to let the gains our troops have sacrificed so much for in Iraq slip away before they are cemented.

Clearly this did not occur, with the United States spending billions in Iraq for reconstruction.

No one should interpret my comments today as a lack of support for Iraq and the continued U.S. involvement there.

I have real concerns about whether the proposed civilian-led mission will take the lead once our troops are gone and is sufficient to support the Iraqi needs and U.S. interests.

Make no mistake, after sacrificing hundreds of billions of American taxpayers' dollars and nearly 4,500 American lives, the United States has an enormous stake in Iraq's success.

There are people on this committee, and in the Senate, who have argued that the United States should remain in Iraq in the same sense that it's remained in Korea, as a projection force.

Their ability to do what we saw them do in the past is somewhat diminished.

It's hard for a lot of, especially West Virginians, but also Americans to understand. Is there a return for us or any sharing of that, or are we all in with nothing in return?

General Austin, you have said that internal security in Iraq is the best it's been in years...

If we are no longer there they will turn their focus on the Government of Iraq.

So we don't have any reported incidents where that's been breached?