Mr. Chairman, this is probably a monumental task that nobody can answer, but we're starting to raise expectations in different motions here that say we'd like to see certain studies done. I don't know whether the researcher can tell us whether there is a ballpark timeline we can develop—obviously, “ballpark” meaning we're not going to have to stick to it—to give us at least some indication, once we work out what witnesses to hear, of what realistically we could expect. We only have so many committee meetings. I don't want to start raising expectations, which has happened before, whereby people expect that the something else we have put on the agenda is going to show up.
I certainly support Mr. Dewar's intent, but the question becomes what is doable, if we are going to be faced with a major Afghanistan study and are going to do a study on something else. Some of these motions may only take one committee meeting, and that's fine. But for some of the others I would like to get a more realistic understanding of what it is we're being asked to do, so that when people contact us.... I think our experience in the last committee, with regard to both democratic development and the attempt to deal with the China report from the subcommittee on human rights, was a classic example of trying to mix too many things at the same time.