Certainly. I was just hoping that this would generate more interest I suppose.
What do I think the impact of this may be? Profound…in theory. I think it is a VERY positive sign that such a program is being tried. If you can’t understand the environment there in Iraq there will never really be any hope for any kind of even semi-positive outcome. The entire region is fractured into many different factions, sects and other divisions. Understanding what even something as simple as someone offering you tea (to use an example from the article) can have a rather profound psychological effect on the people making said offer…and how they receive those who accept or turn down said offer. UNDERSTANDING the ramifications and what they actually mean is…well, rather important I’m thinking.
To be sure we should have been doing this all along. However, it doesn’t appear to me to be to late as one poster above (no surprise there) seems to think. In fact I think we have a brief window here to perhaps make a positive change…and I’m at least cautiously encouraged that we seem to be at least trying.
I’m unsure of what you are getting at here. My thought is that it will help the various Iraqi peoples profoundly if the US troops there actually start to understand them, at least at a basic level. I think it would be worth while to attempt such a program in the converse as well…explain to the locals how the troops think, and what certain things mean or don’t mean. A greater understanding between what are pretty obviously vastly different cultures can only have a positive effect in such an environment…at least that’s how I see it.
Huge benefit I think. It will help them to understand the byplay and the gestures being made, what they mean to the people making them, what is insulting without meaning to be, etc etc. This could have a rather profound impact on our relationship to the various groups in Iraq if we are able to actually follow through with all this. A big ‘if’ there…but myself I’m a touch more optimistic than I was, say, 3-4 months ago.
Yes, we should have been doing it all along, and it is reassuring that we be doing it now. It is never too late to begin to understand. History moves along. The Iraq war has happened, it’s irrevocable, but as long as there is a United States and an Iraq there must be dialogue.
Well, I am thinking of it as essentially marketing data. THey are looking at who is getting jobs, who is hiring them, where they live, who they talk to etc… That sort of demographic and psychographic data should be quite useful in a civilian capacity. It would be the kind of data on Iraq that companies like Acxiom provide for America.
Definitely. I have read a few things that give me hope for Iraq. It’s hard not to wish for Iraq to be more of a tragedy than it is due to the fear that Bush will be remembered as some sort of misunderstood genius. I’d rather it work out in the favor of the Iraqi people regardless of what happens. I am glad that General Petraeus is in charge over there now. Someone I know on the ground over there admonishes us against thinking Petraeus is some sort of genius, but that he is a good capable leader. This sort of information seems like it could be of greater applicability than we are even speculating on. The management of information on a culture is something that is far more important to a more advanced society. This sort of relationship with the Iraqi people could speed the advancement of the nation providing a stable, less repressive environment right smack dab in the center of the middle-east.