>> but was the iraq war a hopeless endeavor? >> you know, people will make their judgments about the war, whether it was wise to get into it the way we got into it, the way we prosecuted it. but by the time the obama administration came into office, that was an inheritance that we had to deal with. and given the extraordinary sacrifice of so many americans, our military, our diplomats and others, we were determined to make the best possible future we could for iraq and to live up to that responsibility. and that's what we tried to do. i think there were moments in the last years when you could see -- and indeed, we can still see, a way forward for iraq. but again, at the end of all of this, as much as we can do, it's -- it depends on the iraqis themselves. they have to decide the future