I'm coming at this from a completely different direction as my background is more in advertising, sales, marketing, strategic communications, blah blah blah. So it might be off...

One caveat: With no objectives in these scenarios laid out, I can only tangentially speak to some of this. So I'm taking a lot of liberties here. If I was going in with a specific mission to accomplish, it would be different I'm sure.

1. First off, if I haven't done my homework on the sheik before walking in his door, I've failed already. I should already know what his desires, fears, and priorities are at least in general terms. Does he have a family? How big is it? Is one of them in prison? What do his public statements say about him, if any? I need to know exactly what type of man (or men, if he relies on a council of people in his dealings) I'm dealing with before I even broach the The Sale. It may be that the gent is so anti-American or anti-Coalition that I might want to rethink putting a lot of time and energy into swaying him to whatever my objective is.

With all this under my belt, NOW I'm ready to answer the sheik's question. And the answer (90% of the time) is going to be, "I'm here to help YOU." Using what I know (or should know) about him already, I'd offer to him a number of things that demonstrate why maybe -I- might be someone he wants to deal with perpetually: I could fix a broken home for one of his tribesmen; I could look into the imprisoning of one his family members and potentially negotiate his release; I could take on a debt he owes to another tribe. ANYTHING I can do to show him that I'm someone he might want to do business with.

The result might be as little as the sheik saying "thanks, but no thanks," but that's OK. I've planted a seed. In a couple weeks, I"ll try again, this time perhaps bearing a gift, something he wants or needs. The bottom line is that I need to convey one thing at all times: YOU YOU YOU. It's all about YOU. Enabling and empowering the sheik in any way I can. After a while, he may come to form a dependence on whatever enabling I'm giving him, be it security, goods and services, or mere credibility.

Everyone WANTS something and everyone FEARS something. Balancing those things appropriately in negotiations is how influence is measured, traded, and exacted.

2. The journalist. I tell him, "I just heard about it myself. Wanna come check it out with us?" EMBED him/her. You have to co-opt media at every opportunity. You want that guy/gal to WANT to ride with you wherever you go. You want him drinking your Kool-Aid. So make it easy for him-- give him an escort into a danger zone, let him ride on patrol with you... but recognize that after throwing him these carrots, you'll want something in return. Maybe you want to review his story before he publishes. Maybe you even want to co-write it with him. It's part of the Art of the Deal-- influence the message by influencing the messenger. You'll never be able to control it, but you have to spend the time and energy to shape it or that journalist will do it for you.