Full article here, by Stanley Kurtz.

“Arab tribal warriors aren’t “too egalitarian.” Advocates of race and gender preferences are too egalitarian. Arab tribal warriors aren’t “too individualist.” Strict libertarians are too individualist. The equality and autonomy of Arab tribal warriors are closer to what we find in Hobbes’s state of nature–the sort of individualism that precedes the social contract, not the individualism that follows it.”

…and Islam has largely been the glue uniting these tribes.

“Learning how to understand and critique the Islamic Near East through a tribal lens will open up a new and smarter strategy for change.”

I could be persuaded; it’s another piece of the puzzle anyways… 

So, in Iraq, we thought we could take out Saddam and leave behind a constitutional democracy…ameliorating tribal and religious differences within a national identity with oil revenue greasing the skids?

…because of freedom?

Addition:  Perhaps we can only deepen our understanding of these ideas, because it won’t be long before we may be using them again and forging into the unknown…with important consequences, moral and otherwise.