Cabot Phillips

One is the liberation of Iraq.

You're talking about the statues that bring down Saddam Hussein, his eventual hanging as a war criminal.

But that was overshadowed by two rapidly vilifying and purging all of the Ba'athists.

Very similar type of circumstances in post-war Germany in the end of World War II.

Rather than just remove all the Nazis, we kept those that were needed at a lower level to keep the lights on and policing the streets until they could be transitioned out and fully vetted.

What we ended up doing by the debathification in Iraq in 2003 and 2004

is we turned all of them into enemies and into insurgents, and that's what bought us a very long war.

There's a smart way to go about that.

We didn't.

Afghanistan's another lesson that I think is being heeded.

Afghanistan is never going to be a replica of American democracy, but we thought, along with many Western European countries, that we could.

So you have to take the country for what it is and what its people, their aspirations and desires and culture, and apply your interest to that, making sure that Americans and American interests are being safely pursued.

I think in both cases, when I say both, I'm talking Venezuela and what could unfold in Iran is Venezuela.

give the space for the people to decide a government that is one that's responsive to their wishes, but also one that's not going to be a threat to the American interest.

And it does take a degree of patience and a highly well-informed insight to the local politics and the local groups.

We'll see if we've got that in Iran.

It appears we've got that going along fairly well in Venezuela so far.

Final question, Brent.

Final question, Brent.

What do you expect to see over the next few days?