Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I would like to thank all four of you for your service and, through you, my thanks to the men and women you represent, your teams.
I've had the privilege of spending a substantial amount of time in Iraq as a UN official. It's always an extremely welcome opportunity to circle back and to receive an update, so thank you for being here.
I would like to use my time to focus on—you mentioned this, General—the concept of “whole of government” and to start out with a bit of the regional context from an Iraqi perspective, but also from a regional perspective. I'll ask you and also your colleagues from Global Affairs this. If you were to diagnose what led to the rapid assent of Daesh, what were some of the security-related factors that permitted this organization to become what it was, and what factors need to be put in place to prevent its renaissance or potentially even another organization taking its place?