much worse it was in vietnam. >> we communicated with american citizens for weeks telling them to get out of the country. we offered financial assistance for those not able to afford to get on flights themselves. many chose to stay right until the end and that was their choice. we now are faced with a circumstance we have to help evacuate those. that's our responsibility as the u.s. government but the point i'm making is that when a civil war comes to an end with an opposing force marching on the capitol, there are going to be scenes of chaos and lots of people leaving the country. that is not something that can be fundamentally avoided. >> leading off our discussion tonight, senior political scientist for the rant corporation and author of "leap of faith" also with us, philis a fellow at the institute for policy studies.