things that will take some risk maybe that we shouldn't take. >> how do you weigh the death of al-baghdadi in terms of president trump's previous policy decision to take troops out of northern syria? >> so, you know, again, i said at the very beginning i think al-baghdadi is an operational victory. but you have to view that operational victory in terms of the larger strategy. what's our strategic position in syria. and i think as we see this operation wouldn't have happened without the intelligence and the partnership of the iraqis, without the partnership, you know, of our allies in the region, without the partnership frankly of the kurds who gave, as we know, we heard who gave us some of the information that we needed to execute this operation. so, as we put that relationship at risk, we put at risk our ability to do future operations like this. so it has to be taken as a whole. the operational victory is unquestionable. we should sit back and be proud of that. but we have to keep our eye on the larger strategic picture. final thoughts. >> steve is being very polite.