Scrutinizing Petraeus's Record

[Rank amateur]

I'd say I've had a chance to see the very worst of human nature and the very best.

In all years, and all your experiences, have you ever seen people who were more likely to resolve their differences when there was no pressure to resolve them?

Its not as simple as you make it sound

Honestly, it is. David Ogilvy said, "The consumer isn't stupid, she's your wife." Meaning, that if the ad sounded like BS to your wife, it would sound like BS to all the other customers.

If you wouldn't want a foreign company named Blackwater to be able to shoot Americans without fear of reprisals, they won't want that in Iraq. If you felt something was worth fighting for, you'd fight for it. So will they. If you were willing to accept help, but not a hand out, they're not willing to accept a hand out either. If you're willing to fight with the French, but would never trust them, your new "allies" in Iraq will never trust you.

People are people. They always have been and always will be.

the change is in getting them organized and responsible for portions of their area.

Before the Shiite dominated Army was responsible for security. This could just be a tactical change, but as a spin doctor I suspect that we are moving back to the Reagan strategy of using the Iraqi Sunni as a force against Iran and that no one has the cajones to admit that we've invested 100s of billions and 3,000 lives to go back in time 20 years to implement a strategy that would be more effective if Saddam were still alive.

(I fully admit that I'm cynical, and my cynicism is why I don't serve, and that I am sometimes wrong, but I'm not always wrong.)