yesterday. general, thank you for being with us. obviously, returning those people's homes to them is of serious importance. let's talk about the strategic value of sinjar. hopefully we can put up a map to show where it is. tell us why sinjar is important in the battle against isis, both in iraq and syria. >> as nick brought out, it really is a choke point between raqqa in syria and mosul to the east. the real objective for the iraqi security forces is mosul. retaking mosul in the near term has been an objective for them for quite some time. by taking sinjar you cut route 47, which makes it easier to take mosul because it cuts off the ability of isis to supply logistics, supply troops, supply ammunition from syria. >> general, as nick was saying, there was optimism this would take hours, just days to retake sinjar. when you look at the balance