is up at Small Wars Journal. Everything you ever wanted to know about tribal relationships and then some. I've only read it once, so far, but it reads like the perfect annotation for reading Seven Pillars of Wisdom, or any Arab history apart from the mission of communicating with the tribal leaders. Places tribal actions in context sorely needed for Westerners. Marines planning on being in the thick of Iraq or Afghanistan should read and reread until the info becomes part of their genetic code.
This pamphlet provides a general overview of tribal society and behavior to gain an appreciation of the cultural operating environment. The pamphlet is based on the premise that the key component of COIN and irregular warfare is to effectively communicate intent within the cultural frame of reference of the target audience.SWJ
"The ultimate goal is to assist the warfighter to make sense of the behavior patterns and trends inherent in tribal politics and diplomatic conventions. It hopes to serve as a guide to gauge the effectiveness of COIN or irregular warfare tactics,
techniques and procedures (TTP) and a cultural baseline to determine why
certain approaches succeed or fail."SWJ
