I was blessed in my 3 embassy postings to have engaged political and econ officers who really tried to grasp the cultural underpinnings of what was going on. It was essential that they do that because in all 3 cases, the populations involved were doing things that ran against the "conventional wisdom" of Washington. One of the countries had both AID and Peace Corps programs. Talking with those folks was extremely enlightening because they interfaced with different populations than the rest of us did. I am proud to say that I got out a lot, especially to neighborhood bars, in order to judge the mood of the "street" -- and to drink. (Not necessarily in that order).

It's sometimes hard to figure out what drives Washington, however. I remember a tasker to the embassy in Belgrade to report on the status of mouflons in the mountains in the final days running up to the Kosovo war. Hmmm.