Finally a good, public piece from the HTS
Posted By Marc on April 13, 2010
For several years, now, I have been complaining that there is very little publicly available on what and how the Human Terrain System (HTS) does while in the field. As a result of this lack, all of us who are following the system have had to deal with various and sundry news reports only. The situation has now changed somewhat, with the publication by Matthew Arnold of a new article at the Small Wars Journal (blog and comments, PDF).
While I have some questions about the operations of this particular Human Terrain Team (HTT) certainly, from Arnold’s description at any rate, I think that they are going about gathering their data in a surprisingly intelligent, rational and non-hyperbolic manner. In many ways, and this is based solely on the article and not any first hand accounts, I think that the research process Arnold is describing is quite good. I especially approved of the attempts to eliminate data stovepiping and improve data sharing for the RIPTOA process, all of which are key to any long term relationships and Tribal Engagement efforts.
One thing Arnold said in his conclusions that jumped out at me was this (pp. 8-9):
The author very rarely meets local Afghans who are unwilling to talk to him about their local community and personal perspectives. Indeed, they most often exclaim that they are shocked but happy to be asked what they actually think of their local situation. The shame is that after nine years of presence, the Coalition still has such a limited understanding of the local populations it is spread out amongst and ultimately trying to win over.
This, to my mind, says two things. First, that the issue of informed consent, at least as it is being played up in some venues, is and should be secondary to the issue of local communications with the occupying Coalition Forces. I will also note that the vast majority of “interviews” that Arnold is describing are conducted not by social scientists but by troops in the field.
The second point is that Arnold is quite correct: it is a shameful situation that so little is know about the local populations.
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FYI
http://www.counterpunch.org/stanton04152010.html
A little hyper, but info is current.
I saw it a couple of days back – John usually emails me when he has new stories appearing. One of these days, I’m going to write something about how the word “intelligence” has caused more problems than are generally thought .
Hahahahaha, quite the life’s work. Explaining the poor, misunderstood child of Reason and illegitimate half brother of Truth.