Iraq, Iraq, what's your picture of Iraq?
If the people who's great plan was to conquer and occupy Iraq could have less understanding of how to proceed than they do currently, it would be astouding. Riverbend has a great set of posts on a recent article in the New York Times by John Tierney called Iraqi Family Ties Complicate American Efforts for Change.
At the conclusion of one of her posts, she says:
I'm an example of a modern-day, Iraqi female who is a part of a tribe- I've never met our sheikh- I've never needed to--I have a university degree, I had a job and I have a family who would sacrifice a lot to protect me--and none of this hinders me from having ambition or a sense of obligation towards law and order. I also want democracy, security, and a civil, healthy society-- right along with the strong family bonds I'm accustomed to as an Iraqi.
We can talk all we want about how Iraqi culture is different than ours, about how the Middle East is all about veils or religion or sheiks or tribes, but we won't get anywhere until those in power recognize that whatever else people in Iraq are or know or think, they are, and should treated as, people.