a veteran saying he's worried about the politics of this. do you stand by the president's decision? >> i think it was the right thing to do. i think that it's a realization that the afghan forces are not ready to take over this mission yet. and as brock said, we don't want a repeat of what happened in iraq. we're seeing that happen with the fall of kunduz was a wakeup call to the administration. when the afghan troops collapsed when being attacked by an inferior taliban force. this is rem ainiscent of the iri army. we don't want to repeat that same mistake in afghanistan. i take the point that it's easy to go from 5,000 to 20,000, but. i think the number is a political number, but i think the administration is coming around to listening to the pentagon now. >> you heard the president and ash carter, everyone is discussing what happened in iraq