But Colonel Henry had greeted Ronan by telling him: "We've done terrible things in Ireland," and the two men turned out not to have wildly differing aspirations for the island.
The mechanism for such exchanges of experience needs to be non-threatening, and designed to reflect the differing political aspirations and governance structures in the countries involved.
Human beings within every culture have differing aspirations -- just think of labor unions and the Tea Party right now.
They are not a monolith; members come from more than 125 political and tribal groups holding differing aspirations and influenced by numerous entities, some of which have goals contrary to those of the Americans and the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.
AMERICANS have set out to teach Iraqis about democracy, and the way it is going says much about the differing cultures and histories and aspirations of the teachers and the students.
But the next generation has different aspirations.
The differing conceptions can have profound consequences.
The differing reactions were not lost on local observers.
The differing responses reveal the characteristics of the tissue.
The differing approach by governments is an emotive issue.
