Barack Obama: “We’re starting this drawdown from a position of strength. Al Qaeda is under more pressure than at any time since 9/11.”

It is a decision about how do we face and embrace this finite amount of time we have on the planet.

A drift towards extremism was "not inevitable

And I will fight for that, even if I don’t always think it’s going to win.

I’m going to insist that we can do better than we’re doing right now.