country remains divided by sunnis, shiias and kurds. iran continues to try and exert its influence. and iraq had an election in march but nobody emerged with the clear majority. the former prime minister ayad alawwi held a two seat edge over current prime minister nourry al maliki. the new parliament met for the first time three weeks ago and has yet to name a president that would then name a prime minister and then try to assemble a government. today vice president biden is in baghdad meeting with allawi and al maliki trying to get a stable government in place. over total cost to date about $748 billion. what did the u.s. accomplish in iraq and can it succeed in afghanistan? when we come back, a conversation we had earlier. three congressmen with great perspective on this. they served in both countries.