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| Iraq |
| New tactic in Iraq paying big dividents: anthropology |
| 2008-01-10 |
| As David Matsuda tells it, he's probably the last person you'd expect to see in a U.S. military uniform climbing out of an armored vehicle in Iraq. An anthropology professor from the East Bay campus of California State University near San Francisco, he's a self-described peacenik who opposed the war in Iraq, did his academic research in Guatemala and never carries a gun. Terrorists prefer you don't. "I'm a Californian. I'm a liberal. I'm a Democrat," he says. "My impetus is to come here and help end this thing." I'll take it. Maybe liberals have a use after all! :-) Matsuda is part of the U.S. military "Human Terrain Team" (HTT) program, which embeds anthropologists with combat brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan in the hope of helping tactical commanders in the field understand local cultures. The program is controversial: the American Anthropological Association denounced it in October, saying it could lead to ethics being compromised, the profession's reputation damaged, and worst of all, research subjects becoming military targets. ??? [Boggle]. Matsuda says the concern is based on a misunderstanding of what he has signed on to do. Yeah. I feel your pain. Libs always seem to be looking for the worst in what is being done here. "There's been a knee-jerk reaction in the anthropology community, that you've been co-opted, that you're a warmonger, like you're clubbing baby seals or something," he said. "I came here to save lives, to make friends out of enemies." Do did the Trunks. Welcome to the club. We know what you mean. Why don't you apply your anthroplogy skills to figure out that the Libs are using it to gather a power base among uninformed/uneducated/ignorant folks. Soldiers in northeastern Baghdad -- an area transformed over the past year from one of the most violent parts of Iraq to one of the best illustrations of the security improvements of late 2007 -- say they are grateful for Matsuda's expertise as they make the transition from fighting to peacemaking. I'm sure it's all because of this guy. And the guys behind him wearing all the battle rattle. "It's a huge asset," said Staff Sergeant Dustin "Boogie" Brueggemann who, as a tactical psychological operations specialist, has spent the past year trying to win hearts and minds in Adhamiya, until a few months ago one of the most violent strongholds of Sunni Arab militants in Iraq. "The guys who were out with him were saying: 'Dr Matsuda's so smart!' Soldiers even on the lowest level now, we see the big picture just by listening to him talk," he said. Until recently we've been creating problems using the women's latrine. Now they don't laugh at us so much anymore. "He gave me so much information that had I known it a year ago I could have done things differently," he said. "He gave me a history of the Ubaidi tribe. A lot of people here are members of that tribe. I knew a little bit about them, but I didn't realize just how big they were." They all put their pants on one leg at a time, dude. I mean their dishdashas. I mean . . . . Oh, nevermind. They're all important. Further up the command chain, Lieutenant-Colonel David Oclander, deputy commander of the 5,000 soldiers of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division, said Matsuda had given a presentation on how Iraqis resolve conflicts that proved valuable in approaching Shi'ite clerics. Does it involve shoving a tank gun up their collective arse? "The HTT has been a great help in making sure that when we dialogue with them, we dialogue with them in a way they understand and appreciate," he said. Matsuda says he arrived at exactly the right time, when a sudden sharp decline in violence opened new opportunities for engagement in his unit's area. The brigade is a classic example of last year's new U.S. strategy in Iraq that saw greater numbers of troops deployed to Iraq and more emphasis on interaction with civilians. Before the troop buildup, the entire area of northeastern Baghdad -- including about half of the capital's population -- was covered by just a single battalion of about 800 U.S. troops who suffered some of the worst casualties in Iraq. Now the area is covered by the brigade's six battalions, including four combat battalions each covering separate neighborhoods as diverse as Sunni Arab stronghold Adhamiya and Sadr City, the giant Shi'ite slum of more than 2 million people. In the past six months violence plummeted, as Adhamiya's Sunni tribal leaders turned against al Qaeda militants, and Moqtada al Sadr, the Shi'ite cleric whose Mehdi Army militia controls Sadr City, declared a ceasefire. In December 2006, there were 450 killings in the area, mostly by sectarian death squads trying to drive rival groups out of their neighborhoods. There were just 15 killings last month, mainly by ordinary criminals, said Oclander. On Saturday, Matsuda -- wearing a U.S. military uniform but unarmed -- spent two hours with soldiers from 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry lingering on a street in Adhamiya where a few months ago U.S. forces would have had to fight either in or out. They meandered in and out of shops, bought falafel sandwiches and ate them on a street corner while playing with local children who already seemed to know their names. Periodically they knocked on doors and asked permission to come inside homes for a chat. They never turned down an offer of tea. Most of local people were friendly, although they complained about a lack of electricity and their suspicion of the Shi'ite-led government and its security forces. Yeah, we've been kinda wondering, too. Matsuda said he had learned a lot that day -- about who was moving into vacant houses and who was renting them out, how a local clinic got its medicines, how shop owners were getting funding to reopen their shops. "We have a window of opportunity here to make a difference for these people. We have to take it," he said. |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #11 It works both ways. Professor Matsuda (Japanese name?) gets to share his expertise and gets useful information he can write up later, and when he goes back home he'll take respect for what our military are doing over there -- sort of a Fifth Columnist for the good guys. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-01-10 17:27 |
| #10 This kind of stuff was somehow known or learned by at least a few units, based on my blogreadings over the past several years, and led to successful relationships with some tribal leaders, which ultimately led to a lot of the success of the 'Surge' (maybe they had an activated reservist who took an Anthropology class before getting called up, or maybe they just had the right combination of personnel skills and common sense.) If an honest liberal academic (boy does that sound like an oxymoron) can expand the number of successful units, then power to him. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2008-01-10 16:51 |
| #9 Not much different than the Indian Fighters of the West, who observed, learned, and dealt with the local natives, technologies of generations removed from micromanaging Washington. They got to do this stuff locally because no one was around to get in their way. They probably didn't know of, but instinctively understood Sun Tzu's dictum about 'know yourself and your opponent and be successful in a thousand battles'. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-01-10 16:51 |
| #8 Yea, Sea, looking for an idiot? Look no further, in academe you get them dime-a-dozen. Of course, you'll find there also people with full set of marbles, but, it's a rarity. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2008-01-10 16:27 |
| #7 Matsuda sounds like a guy who could give a shit what the "board" thinks. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-01-10 15:41 |
| #6 The American Anthropological Ass'n set up a one-post blog to discuss their formal statement (linked at the blog). Read the comments and despair: http://aaanewsinfo.blogspot.com/ |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2008-01-10 15:34 |
| #5 Call it "intel" instead of "anthropology". Everybody feel better now? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-01-10 15:24 |
| #4 People I've talked to who've come back from theatre say this sort of info has been incredibly useful to them. Put it in context: under the provisional authority the coalition refused to acknowledge or work with the tribal structure in Iraq, with disastrous results. Matsuda and others like him have given our forces the info needed to size up, negotiate with, peel off or effectively smash the natural force groupings they face. No small value, that. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-01-10 15:18 |
| #3 Wonderful, 'Wild Kingdom' meets 'Rambo.' next thing he will be examining tracks in the sand for evidence of Bigfoot..... |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. 2008-01-10 14:09 |
| #2 The Muslim Whisperer? Hey, if it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid. |
| Posted by: Sleating Bourbon2268 2008-01-10 12:58 |
| #1 soem of the best comments so far this year . the one about shoving the tank barrel up their arse had me in tears |
| Posted by: sinse 2008-01-10 10:35 |