province, and when we are seeing the dissolving situation there in iraq and iran and the syrian state, they are seeing that they cannot allow it to happen again in afghanistan, and there is a real security threat to the united states in afghanistan. and this is what the president said thursday. afghanistan remains dangerous, and 25 brave americans have give n their livs there this year. i do not send you into harm s way lightly. it is the most solemn decision that i make, but as your commander in chief, i believe that this mission is vit al to our national security interests in preventing the terrorist attacks against our citizens and natio nation. as you are aware, brian, less than 1% of the americans serve in the military. do you think that affects the way that the leadership makes deployment decisions, and how the public reacts to the decisions? i am going to answer the second part of the question