09/03/2018
https://www.congress.gov...
"NATO will not stay, in any numbers, if we have 1,000 troops."
"the one thing that is foremost in my mind is that if their leadership is unable to transfer power in a peaceful manner, that would create conditions that would cause us to, perhaps, revert to sectaria..."
"If it becomes unstable and ungoverned, it opens the area, potentially, for terrorists, in order to allow Iraq to become a place where terrorism could be exported."
"We were one perceived slight or insult away from these guys shooting each other, and we need to have a follow-on force to keep tensions low."