My Second Point, I Think, Was the Crisis around the ISIL Hostages

Looking back, it appears that it was the crisis around the two Japanese taken as hostage by ISIL. What I was able to say within what I thought were the boundaries of human decency largely aligned with the subsequent unfolding of the situation. I did not foresee the exchange twist, but I did not talk about it either (and no one else foresaw it either), so I won’t hold myself up against that part.