With the greatest respect:

he people whome you fight don't think the same way as you do, they belive in things that you probably can't even comprehend, like honour.
This is true, its called cultural relativism and as a theory it was first expounded by Giambattista Vico in around 1636AD, and later picked up by the German romantic anti rationalist movement led initially by Herder, that finally flowered into Fascism. (read Isiah Berlin on the subject) To paraphrase Berlin: "We cannot understand ancient Rome or Athens because we cannot hear the songs or smell the incence".

In other words, what you are trying to say, I believe is that another culture cannot be understood by anyone outside that culture because they don't have the same concepts, myths, legends, stories, histories and values. The obvious implication appears to me to be "don't even try".

This is false. It is quite possible to immerse yourself in another culture and obtain an understanding of it, by reading their same myths and legends and absorbing their culture and values. People have been doing it for years.

The alternative would mean that there can be no understanding of cultures at all. For example, some hold that the Spartans were noble, proud and honourable warriors to be emulated if possible. The reality is that any study will show you they were also infanticides, slave owners, mean, brutal, racist, and corrupt. Clearly, if you want to study ancient Sparta, you must understand Thermopylae in the context of the society.

It is quite possible to learn about Iraq and its tribes and use that information.


They do not accept bribery, with money or power, because neither of those things is what they are fighting for.
With the greatest respect, about $40 billion in pallets of $100 bills is unaccounted for in Iraq. Go figure.


People don't like to be meddled with, it's not your place not your right, to meddle in the country's affairs.
True, the question then is why do we try?