When I first read the 28 articles I found the article on cultural narratives woefully lacking in detail, so overall I'd say that your paper is very worthwhile. It is also very good. I was especially fond of the section on creating new shared narratives. I thought it was very practical and useful.

I'll make a couple of suggestions for additions, based on some comments that I've read here from other council members. (They may be beyond the scope of your paper.) Some people are much more committed to the American narrative than others: particularly the Bible. Can they be effective? Do you have any advice for these individuals or their commanders?

While you discussed the pace of social engineering etc, I sometimes get the feeling that there are many - and the president might be one of them - who feel that counterinsurgency techniques are a way of imposing an American narrative on other cultures. (Gates recent comments suggest we're developing what I call "COIN arrogance.") Most people realize that we can't create another America, but the idea that we can make other cultures much more like ours seems to be common. (I read comments like, "It may not look exactly like our American democracy, but I am convinced that Iraq will be a democracy.") I wonder if it would be useful for you to be more explicit about the challenges/limitations of trying to impose/introduce our narratives on other societies.

Again, I found your article very good and useful, but the more I think about it, the more I hate the title. "What to know" implies a didactic approach and you use a Socratic one. "Before you go" implies some time limitations and there really aren't any; people need to think about the questions before, during and after your mission. Finally, your title is very plain spoken. Your piece is very academic - which is fine since you're an academic - but why be misleading?

Believe it or not, I am working on something that covers some of the same ground, from a much more prescriptive, didactic COIN POV. My synapses aren't used to the high intellectual standards demanded by the Journal, but if I ever get it to the point where it might be worthy of discussion, can I e-mail you a draft for your comments?