Feudal lords want their fiefdoms - there is enough external Sunni cash available to sustain them, they've got alot of manpower/fighters, enclaves of their own kind, a long tradition of tribalism and sheik paternalism V. the big unknown of representative government, voting, power sharing and working with infidels is just too much to handle at this point in time. They can't be readily bribed I suspect and the ROE and the Constitution prevent other considerations to this dilemma. Good guys can only play by the rules they set and if somehow the American people can wait it out for another 7-9 years and if the COIN strategy is given free reign, all will be well. That's asking alot from Mom and Pop America though, isn't it?