Comment on Belmont's "Pretty Pictures, 2"
In "Pretty Pictures, 2" there is further use of diagrams to illustrate the incentives and desired end-states of certain actors in Iraq:
It's kinda nice when an Iraqi resistance conference provides some confirmation for the pictures I've been drawing. Iraq the Model's latest posts throws more light on the relationship of the "political struggle" in Iraq to the insurgency. ... The insurgent's conference also provides a glimpse of how the struggle in Iraq is fully international. Elements in Syria and Iran are probably fully behind the politico-military campaign. It is not a case of Iraqi "Minutemen" struggling against the new Redcoats. Rather, Iraq is a central front of the War on Terror. Now putting both pictures together may give us some insight into how both sides are conducting their campaign. You can see both teams playing on the field and keep score, to use a sports analogy.
I shared these remarks concerning the diagrams and the interrelationships between the elements therein:
Wretchard, at the risk of complicating your fine "playing field" diagram, I wonder how much would be gained from explicitly noting the existence of "dotted-line relationships" between some of the parties. In genograms (family trees), dotted lines can be used to show many kinds of relationships including distant relationships, romantic liaisons, adopted and foster children. In organization charts, they are used to indicate the existence of indirect and/or multiple reporting relationships (e.g. two-boss situations). What I wondered when I examined the diagram was whether and to what degree dotted-line relations exist. I wondered whether and to what degree people in the "Iraqi political" and "Iraqi Army" boxes still have indirect, intimate, and illicit relationships with their counterparts on the other side of the pitch.