Greyhawk, Sir, I just followed your counsel on Bing West's "The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics, and the Endgame In Iraq". I bought it from Amazon 10 minutes ago. I figure it should be interesting to see his approach to the hidden complexities of Iraq, the tribal cultures and the political realities of Iraq and the whole region. "Grumpy, do you really expect him to explain all of those things in detail?" My answer, "No. This is the way I see the problem. AMERICAN CITIZENS can only act on or ask questions on, the forensically factual information available to them. This is the only way AMERICAN CITIZENS can learn to ask the informed, intelligent questions. If Bing West, through this book can help us to start with just talk, no yelling. Both sides also need to learn to listen. It is at this point, both sides will see a door open, so we can come together and be one Nation. I am not saying, we will come together because we like war. We will do what we must, WORK TOGETHER. Nobody will like it. Why will we do it? The answer is simple, because WE ARE AMERICANS."

I'm about half-way through Bing West's book and I think it's great! It should be a "must read" for every professional miliary education class.

Now we need to be the strongest tribe in Afghanistan. Not sure that is working out that way because there are too many tribes in our tribe apparently