Lack of understanding the Iraqi culture have caused the United States severe problems with resolving the Iraqi conflict Rick Barton said in a video conference on Thursday, Jan. 25.

Barton, a member of the Iraq Study Group, spoke Thursday to students from George Mason University, Pace University and the University of Denver.  He told them that because of the United States’ lack of understanding there is no power to anticipate what the Iraqi’s are doing or how they will react to our advances.

The U.S. troops have no strategy that forces the Iraqis to make choices, Barton said.  The final chronic problem in Iraq, according to Barton, is there is no way to measure the progress of the U.S. occupation.

However, Barton said there are three effective techniques to combat these problems.

“Understand the situation by using the wisdom of the crowds.  People on the streets know a lot more than we give them credit for.  We can learn a lot from them,” he said.

Another technique includes looking for the sources or drivers of conflict.  Lastly, Barton believes the United States has too many goals for Iraq.

“If we lessened or narrowed our scope we could take a step forward in our progress,” he said.

Barton and his group realize that democracy is a new policy and new business in Iraq.  According to him, many Iraqi citizens do not feel safe with the new diplomacy moving.  The troops and impending insurgent attacks have not created an enabling environment for a democracy to flourish said Barton.

Much of the American public and media are focused strictly on the political or the economic reasons U.S. troops are overseas.  However based on the information in the Iraq Study Group documents, this is not the case.

Jian DeLeon, 21, a George Mason student who attended the conference said the results of the Iraq Study Group surprised him.

“It’s not all about economics.  It’s not all about politics. Or even sociology,” he said.  “It’s a combination of all of these which makes the situation at hand much harder to handle.”

DeLeon echoed Barton’s opinion that the economic and political standings in Iraq are unstable and the United States’ presence is not exactly helping.  Barton emphasized the withdraw issue must be addressed, but withdrawing now would reach the same end as a troop surge: complete collapse.