we're going to ask you to hit that if we can get somebody if you can put that microphone right up  because you're being recorded on c span here and i know there's a large audience that wants to hear clearly what you have to say but thank you and please proceed i would like to t is important to us it gives us a perspective that is seldom heard in in this institution and i think that you suggested that there should be more of these kind of exchanges between not just members of the executive branch but members of congress and our counterparts in the council of representatives and i'm a firm advocate or an ardent advocate into polymer mentary exchanges because even without a specific agenda listening to each other with effort can be resolved and as i said earlier in my own remarks what i'm concerned about is that  as senator kerry said is ask becoming the forgotten war and it's not just simply that we have an obligation both by virtue of  we might be forgetting in terms of the public awareness and public consciousness i still see iraq is one of the most significant international issues for american national security and i think we may be just a small piece but a piece of the effort to secure peace stability and prosperity not just for the iraqi people and not just for the american people but for the entire middle east is a continuous vigorous engagement so that both of you are testimonies today very important  and in that regard and i know that mr roboto myself and i know that congress and britain shares that view that we will continue to attention and stay january as a turning point i agree with that and i agree that it's in the best interest of the national security of the united states to do all that we can to secure the integrity of those elections to ensure that they are free and that they are fair and that they are fair and also recognize what the reality is in terms of how the united states is perceived unfortunately by a majority of iraqis this same committee conducted hearings regarding how we would view not just by iraqis but by people elsewhere and as you say and i think one of our great strength is that we can acknowledge that we made mistakes i know i personally make at least four or five days so that shouldn't come as a surprise that collectively we can make mistakes but i think that there is a desire that's bipartisan in nature  and some of us had significant disagreements about the invasion of iraq i for one opposed the invasion bigger recently and i know my colleagues supported it but i think we're becoming we're coming to the to a understanding that we're in this now and that history is history we can learn from it but we've got to work together to  go forward but focusing in on the elections military presence because i think that that would offend many people in iraq particularly if there should be a referendum on the issue of the agreements this is a decision for the iraqi people but obviously we're there in a supporting role next week i will not be here in washington i will be in new york at the united nations i happen to be the democratic representative from congress to the united nations and i wish to arrange for a series of meetings with appropriate u n officials to say to them that they have a responsibility and i role to play in terms of the forthcoming elections that they should be a lodge in substantial presence of international observers that not just on the day of the election but in the run up to the election mana to report back to the security council about these elections which i agree most the most like are a turning point because we have witnessed unfortunately a an election in afghanistan that is caused great concern profound concern among members of both the house and the senate and the american people as to the freeness and as to their badness and the more that we are informed of them the integrity of that election is very much in doubt how can we proceed and the american people say to us you are going to make an investment of as my friend mr rubb aka says of american military personnel and more and more treasure what are you doing so we have to answer that but we also know that what happens in iraq will have in my judgment an impact on our policy in afghanistan because if iraq  election in january is unsuccessful the support here in this country for involvement in afghanistan will diminish because the american people will be saying we tried it once it didn't work and look what happened so this isn't just simply about supporting the iraqi people and democracy in iraq it's about as if not an intimidating force one that would probably try to manipulate or sway the election one way or the other so i presume you're talking about some kind of the organization there to make sure that the election is safe and fair in the american troops is that correct you want to be i mean the good the question is first of all you want the election to be monitored that's number one but number two you want to make sure that these threat of terrorist attacks or are radicals attacking people at the polls and threatening them or killing them because they voted in a certain way you want to make sure that there's two things that happened once the election is protected so people feel safe going to vote and number two there's no intimidation by one side or the other on how they vote now i guess my question is who should make sure the election is secure as far as from a safety standpoint should american troops be involved or should they just be all international troops from the united nations that's the first question and second  so i'm going to ask him i'm going to give him the rest of the time and i know and i know we will have conversations thank you very much mr chairman  in my opening statement i noted the forty three hundred americans who lost their lives in iraq and the tens of thousands who are wounded and and a dreadful price what is also note that the suffering of the iraqi people and their innocent iraqis were killed during our liberation of iraq from saddam hussein's vicious dictatorship  there have been many iraqis who've been killed and wounded since our liberation some by americans but mostly by sectarian violence between iraqis themselves was something that we did not plan upon and let me note that the only thing that seems to have kept that under control or got that under control during the transition from saddam hussein's dictatorship to the potential of any type of democratic society has been the presence of u s troops  with that said let me note that we agree with the german that we should have these type of exchanges we should be very blunt with each other even during these type of exchanges or they don't meet anything so i'm going to be very blunt with you you are a national t v right now you are aware of that national t v and to representatives of the iraqi people i have never heard one word gratitude without being prompted from any elected iraqi official except the kurds i hope you realize when i say forty three hundred americans lost their lives that's families who don't that's grandparents who have no grandchildren i know if you have grandchildren they'll never have grandchildren now because they lost their son or daughter lost their lives trying to give people a chance for democracy there are a lot of families now wives who will never have a husband again children who will never have fathers because they sacrificed for you and i have never heard one word of gratitude from an elected iraqi until they were prompted to do it if the have not heard that let me note that i have not heard that and i have had numerous meetings with iraqis and iraqis need to understand the price that have been paid by americans this witness that we had today labeled america's ability willingness to go into iraq even though we didn't have a workable plan afterwards which was a mistake as iraq a responsible and not mor but we had a stake in it we were attacked you know what saddam hussein didn't attack us we went to we went to iraq in order to try to free your people and and we are not getting blamed for the sectarian blood lust that is at the heart of the culture in iraq between the sunni's and the shiites i hope that we do right by finishing this job and helping you create a democracy and if you're here to ask us for that i have expect some gratitude for the parents who have lost their children who've lost their husbands that people will be walking around for decades for the rest of their like crippled because they lost their have i've heard it on multiple occasions from both of these gentlemen these gentlemen who fought against saddam hussein in the case of mr allow he was the subject of a an assassination attempt actually in london mr chairman when i have known each other for a long time well i'm glad the meetings before even before so i'm glad you have and i'm sure that you can share my my appreciation for his courage and his affection for the united states and the american people and the same goes in the case of solid i appreciate your passion as always  compassion for all those including the american military american civilians and all of those who have lost their lives have lost loved ones who have been have been wounded my friend from california as you probably have noted very passionate about this particular issue i think in the end the lesson that we can all take from whatever society is that violence is and should be unacceptable in terms of resolving issues and violence does not have any role in the resolution in the governance of societies and i'm absolutely convinced that the vast majority of people wherever they are and on the globe only want a world where they can bring their children up where they can enjoy their grandchildren love their families and see people live together in peace and in justice unfortunately we have a vote that i have to run to i want to personally thank both of you for coming here today and educating us  about different perspectives on the same issue and i am not even going to be able to say goodbye but i hope to see you back and i'm sure that i'll be talking to both of you in the very near future