Quote Originally Posted by CPT Foley View Post
Military thinkers are generally very good historians, but they tend to marginalize literature as "just fiction." I think it's also important to study a culture's literature to increase cultural awareness. When I read Fouad Ajami's "Dream Palace of the Arabs" I was struck by his constant references to poets and novelists, e.g., the Syrian exile Adonis (pen name). After reading the poems of Adonis I do feel like I have a better of the alienation of the modern Arab.
This is an excellent point, and it is being used all the time in Iraq, say by RCT/BCT cmdrs who sit down with the sheiks and uses stories to convey a particular message they need to get across. One commander told the story of the king who had a magical sword over his head as he sat on his throne, where the sword was there to ensure he did right by his people. He was speaking to a local sheik, and trying to get the point across, subtly, that the sheik would be in store for a little pain if he didn't do right and the sword plummeted down.

We don't do as well when it is a mass-produced message though.