Posted by Dayuhan
In my part of the world, and I suspect elsewhere, Americans in particular have a reputation for being very easy to manipulate. One piece of advice I'd give anyone who is bringing resources (military, financial, whatever) into a chaotic situation is to be very, very wary of anyone who agrees with everything you say, tells you just what you want to hear, and wants to be your loyal ally. An alliance that falls in your lap without hard work on your part is more than likely an attempt to manipulate you and use the resources you have in pursuit of an objective that likely has nothing to do with yours.
Dayuhan makes an important point that I hope isn't simply glossed over. I have seen this too many times. Some local befriends a senior American officer or other official and all the sudden this person speaks for all indigenous personnel in the area, because it what we want to hear. Anyone saying anything contrary to the party line is obviously a minority. I seem to recall we were dubbed by a couple of key manipulaters during the build up to invading Iraq. Later the Kurds dubbed us repeatedly to achieve their objectives, and amateurs fell for it hook, line and sinker. Just two examples of how dangerous this trait this, and it probably due to arrogance and an excessively rosey outlook of the world where we mistakenly assume everyone wants to be like us and shares our values.