we are here on october 5th. yesterday, october 4th was the 20 year anniversary of the black hawk down incident. the battle when so many u.s. forces lost their lives. that became a very significant shadow on the u.s. military for so many years. i think the other issue to contemplate is why is this so important to americans? why are we talking about this in such detail tonight? it is the growth of al qaeda networks. these al qaeda networks from libya to syria across north africa through the horn in places where there are not strong governments. al qaeda movements are on the rise. growing ability to attack western targets if not to launch attacks outside of africa and into europe or america, potentially. this is why it is so significant. this is why the u.s. and other intelligence services and special forces units continue to go after the al qaeda targets.