WHEN JOHN KERRY SAID THIS...

From Yahoo News:

Kerry echoed sharp recent criticisms of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose iron-handed government is blamed for minority Sunni unrest fueling groups like ISIS, but he stopped well short of saying al-Maliki should resign.

“It’s up to the Iraqi people,” Kerry said. “I don’t think the United States should be issuing instructions or orders. I don’t think any country should.”

I immediately thought of the infamous military coup in S. Vietnam:

South Vietnamese generals plan coup
Oct 5, 1963

There was disagreement among Kennedy's advisors as to what to do about Diem; some believed that Diem had to go and others were unsure. Ultimately the president decided to do nothing. In this case, that was tantamount to support of the coup plotters.

On November 1, rebel forces seized the radio station and police headquarters while laying siege to the presidential palace. In the early morning hours of the next day, Diem and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu surrendered to representatives from the rebel generals. They were later found murdered in the back of an M-113 armored personnel carrier. What followed was a period of extreme political instability as a series of "revolving door" governments took turns in an attempt to rule and stem the tide of the ongoing insurgency in the countryside.