Bryan Whitman Quotations

We are looking into what information -- and in what detail -- was provided to the commission, but as I understand it, at least some of this information was provided.

We're going to move the resources that we think can be helpful to the scene as rapidly as possible. Efforts are being led by the Russian government and it (U.S. assistance) is something that they have asked for.

What this case demonstrates is what the military has said it would do all along, and that is to hold those accountable who violated policy, procedures, uniform code of military justice, and did things that were inappropriate and wrong.

We have no information to suggest they have done so.

we have no indications that the allegations of civilian casualties is accurate.

We're assessing the decision of the Supreme Court.

What I can tell you is that the Defense Department does have legitimate interests in protecting its installations, in protecting its people, and to the extent that they use information collected by law enforcement agencies to do that, that's an appropriate activity of the United States military.

Secretary Rumsfeld serves at the pleasure of the president. Retired Gen. Eaton is certainly entitled to his opinion.

One of the big challenges that's in front of the Iraqi people is seating a government that reflects and respects the views of all the Iraqi people, and doing it in a way in which all Iraqis can feel included in the political process.

Obviously, we will respond to the concerns of any member of Congress. The government of Uzbekistan has been a good partner in the war on terrorism.

My experience is the military when these things are reported to them, work aggressively to resolve them. Not by way of trying to make any excuses, it's clear that our processes could be shored up to try to prevent some of these from happening.

My experience is the military ... when these things are reported to them, work aggressively to resolve them.

Nobody has ever claimed that this was going to be something that is easy. But, one only has to spend a few hours in Iraq to really understand the dedication and how committed the Iraqi people are to making this work, too.

I don't have anything to suggest that is accurate. I have no indication that there are any unaccounted for personnel.

I don't have any specific information on these images.

I don't have any information on any imminent releases.

Certain facts about what happened to other soldiers got confused with what may have happened to Jessica,

I don't think anybody is getting alarmed over any one poll, if that's what you're asking me.

I expect the letter to be delivered soon.

From the standpoint of the Defense Department we are satisfied that the production of parts and equipment will continue to meet our supply requirements.

He has breakfast with members of Congress all the time. Senator Lieberman just returned from Iraq and he had some interesting observations. And he's been very outspoken about what he's seen and the progress that he thinks is being made there.

There is no change in policy, and we will continue implementing the policy.

What is certain is the U.S. military remains capable of executing every mission it is assigned.

He was relieved for matters of personal conduct.

It appears as if there may have been things that were left in the database that shouldn't have been left there.

I think it's fair to say that these are difficult issues -- they are difficult moral, ethical, legal issues. And one would not expect that everyone would come to a consensus on this.

It is possible they are increasing their capability in making strides in radar absorbing material and targeting.

I think that you'll see going forward that we'll be further increasing funding for chemical, biological defense programs.

Our commanders have addressed that issue. The mission remains what it is each and every day.

reconstructing Iraq's infrastructure would require enormous resources beyond what the Congress appropriated -- after 30 years of neglect, decay and corruption.

Our position has not changed. This is a classified program and there are still aspects of it that are not appropriate for an open hearing. And that's what we have told the committee.

Our modern weapons systems use advance technologies that provide the US military with cutting edge capabilities, and to the extent that information is shared with inappropriate entities, that could be harmful to our national defense.

Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

That was rumored a year ago and never proved to be confirmed.

You can do something perfectly legal, but that is inconsistent with the policy or procedures of the department. Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

We are aware that journalists, by the nature of their duties, often will be at the scene of attacks when they occur.

Well, it certainly is the Defense Department's practice to pay our bills. Uzbekistan has been a good partner in the war on terror, particularly ... with respect to our ongoing operations in Afghanistan.

We don't target any civilians with any of our weapons. And to suggest that U.S. forces were targeting civilians with these weapons would simply be wrong.

We know that there will be a number of individuals that cannot be released because of a high degree of certainty they would return to the battlefield. We're looking for ways to share that responsibility with our coalition partners.

Today's strikes are in response to recent Iraqi hostile threats, including enhancement of its air defense systems against coalition aircraft monitoring the no-fly zones.

We agree with the assessment there has been enormous progress since the removal of the Saddam Hussein regime and significant challenges lie ahead, ... We might put into practice elements of the findings as appropriate.

The policy of the department is unchanged, and it is to support the preservation of life by appropriate clinical means and to do that in a humane manner.

The overall level of (Afghan and NATO) security forces in the country is growing.

We are looking at whether or not a formal instruction that bars the prosecution from offering this type of evidence is necessary.

The proof is in (Hussein's) actions. That would be positive, if it's true.

We were able to snatch her and without any loss of life.

The department believes that the release of all of these images will further inflame and cause unnecessary violence in the world.

The department believes that a further release of images could only further inflame and possibly incite unnecessary violence in the world and would endanger our military men and women that are serving around the world.

We are working closely with FEMA to determine the capabilities that are required in the state. When you say 15,000 troops, what do you mean? You have to refine that.

There are a handful of officers that have exercised their right to speak their mind, and certainly that's their right to do that.

When you look at the totality of what Uzbekistan has been doing, they've been a very valuable partner and ally in the global war on terror,

While we continue to review the documentation and conduct interviews, and while there are some who allege specific documents exist, the Defense Department has not discovered any documentation that shows Mohamed Atta connected to al Qaeda prior to the attacks of 9/11.

Up to this point, it's not believed to have been necessary because of the way in which prosecutors and the commission members have been able to proceed in their trials.

There is no ?silver bullet' to solve this problem.

With respect to stories that I have seen that try to characterize military planning with respect to Iran, I would characterize as wild speculation.

what the law and policies are on domestic surveillance and to provide some insights about information-sharing between agencies.

We simply disagree with the audit's conclusion that the CPA provided less-than-adequate controls over Iraqi funds that were provided to Iraqi ministries through the national budget process for hundreds of projects, essential services, Iraqi salaries and security forces.

We typically don't talk about the movement of detainees except when they are being transferred or released to another country. We don't typically talk about the transit for security reasons.

We don't want to take unnecessary risk. We do make sure that when we exercise military force we use the right resources, sufficient to get the job done. It is a decision made by the commander on the ground,

As they take over responsibility for things there are still US forces in the region. US forces remain in supporting roles with the ability to offer a surge capability to Iraqi security forces.

Countering WMD has been a priority for the department in terms of making sure that our future forces are organized, trained, equipped and resourced to deal with all aspects of threats that are posed by WMD.

An Iraqi special operations force conducted a raid in one of the neighborhoods in northeast Baghdad to disrupt a terrorist cell that had been responsible for not only conducting attacks on Iraqi security forces and coalition forces but also in kidnapping Iraqi civilians in the local area.

There's no doubt that there has been a very porous border in the west (with Syria), and military operations have focussed on that over the past year.

Detainee personal information was removed from the transcript because of concern about the potential harm to detainees if the documents were made public.

Any sovereign government needs the ability to control their borders. So the role of the (Iraqi) border-control security forces is one that is vital to the overall security of the country.

That particular Iraqi special operations force came under fire as they were conducting this operation, and in the process the Iraqi special operations forces killed 16 insurgents. They also, in securing the objective there, detained a number of other individuals, approximately 15, is what I've heard.

that there is this detailed planning and intent on the part of the insurgents in Iraq to one day control that country and to really try to extend their extremism to neighboring countries. It demonstrates to me they clearly understand the importance and significance of the battle in Iraq right now.

The mission and the focus of what our forces are doing (in Iraq) have not changed this week from last week or last month.

The mission and the focus of what our forces are doing has not changed this week from last week or last month. Any spike in violence is unfortunate and is always concerning, but we tend to look at these things broadly and over time, and base our decisions on trends and on what the commanders on the ground feel is an appropriate balance.

This does not represent the values of the United States military, ... It's a despicable practice that is unacceptable.

This does not represent the values of the United States military, and doesn't represent the vast majority of the actions and behavior of our men and women in uniform. It is a despicable practice. It's unacceptable. And the department is going to address it.

This directive provides the overarching Department of Defense policy that mandates humane treatment of detainees.

This department has been very clear and very consistent with respect to any adjustments being made to force levels. Somebody tell me where there's daylight.

They have an ongoing interest in this Able Danger project and we're working with them to provide them with the kinds of information they seek to have on this.

There were policies, there were standard operating procedures. But we found as we looked at our operations that there was this gap that should be filled by a directive.

There is, obviously, sufficient body armor for every deployed service member.

This is the United States Defense Department. We plan for all sorts of things.

They reported back to the World Health Organization (WHO) that they had a possible positive.

As we've seen over the past many months, these individual cases (are) coming to trial and being disposed of in accordance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

It's a situation that is being monitored closely.

It's a cause that is worth fighting, it's a noble and historic cause, ... And it's one in which our troops understand the importance of the mission. While these personal sacrifices are tremendous, the consequences of not acting for freedom and for liberty are certainly far greater.

It is US policy to encourage China to emerge as a responsible international partner. However, there is also a lack of transparency and some uncertainty surrounding China's future path.

For a security clearance, you have to go through any number of specific background investigative checks.

It shouldn't surprise anybody that a deployed soldier would rather be at home than deployed, even when they believe what they are doing is important and vital work.

It's really to maintain stability of the U.S. forces during the Iraqi national elections.

It's our practice to pay our bills, ... goods and services previously rendered.

It's part of our conventional weapons inventory. We use it like we use any other conventional weapon.

Then, of course, the department has to continue to do business. And that's when you start doing things that you don't want to do and shifting money in ways that might not make sense and potentially hurt other (defense) programs, too.

The body armor that the services are issuing to deployed service members is the best body armor available.

That is not the type of engagement that we're talking about.

It is the policy of the United States, as well as the Defense Department, to treat all remains consistent with the Geneva Convention and with the utmost respect. These allegations will be aggressively investigated and, if proven to be true, the individuals will be held appropriately accountable.

It is the policy of the department to preserve life through lawful, clinical means.

I'm afraid the staff member got ahead of the decision.

I have no information that would lead me to believe that there is an imminent release.

If you're doing A, B and C and are asked to do D, will D be harder? Sure.

If you look at what we've done to date, we've nearly doubled our investments in chemical and biological defenses. We've implemented any number of important organizational changes to address the challenges that are posed by WMD more effectively.

In some cases, you had detainees that had made some incriminating statements about other detainees, and about third parties back in their home countries. In others, detainees had made statements that could be taken by enemy forces as disloyal acts against them. In others, detainees indicated that they had cooperated with U.S. forces, which could be held against them by individuals in their home countries.

Intelligence is critical to this conflict, probably more so than in any other conflict this nation has been engaged in. We know that we learn from our enemies that we have captured information that thwarts attacks and saves lives.

I know of no evidence that supports that claim.

Interpol is a law enforcement-type organization. Clearly, the United States government works in a collaborative way with nations across the globe.