foremost, the iraqi government, not the united states, not any country can make this situation better for them. we'll weigh a range you have factors and give the president room to make his decision. >> secretary of state kerry, your boss, it was an open secret that he wanted more aggressive, more air strikes i guess is the correct term against isis -- i'm sorry, against the syrian government in last year's debate. but would that not have potentially helped isis which is now gaining ground? isn't this also confusing that any air strike might have huge blowback potential in a way we can't even predict? >> as the president and national security team consider options on the able, they consider all the factors. there's no question here that the overflow of violence from syria is a huge contributing factor if not the factor to what we're seeing in iraq now. we've increased what the assistance we're giving and what