This article serves to illustrate one of our biggest problems in Iraq. Namely, a complete lack of understanding of Iraqi culture. LTC MacGregor makes a comment that this program has "breathed new life" into tribalism, not just in Iraq, but all across the ME and Africa. I was not aware that tribalism was that close to death. Neither, I suspect, were the tribes. Tribalism has dominated the ME for how many thousands of years? Do people really believe that we were going to undo all that in a few years? Getting rid of tribalism is going to take more than a few democratic votes. It is going to take at least a generation and probably more in some areas. Tribe trumps everything for a significant percentage of the population. The tribes have always held considerable power and that is not going away. Consider this, Saddam Hussein had an extensive secret police network and a total willingness to resort to the kind of brutality that no western democracy would ever contemplate and he, ultimately had to deal with the tribes. The idea that we could be successful in Iraq without co-opting the tribes is not just wrong, it's delusional.

SFC W