‘It’s interesting how quickly “ethnography” can degenerate into self-serving propaganda, varied only by the occasional “startling” moment experienced by a naive anthropologist who glimpses the reality of imperial intervention. Surprised to learn that “your people” can do bad things?’

Good point.

You did ask if I would conceive of the possibility of people being “happy” with HTTs in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I gave reasons why I would think not. Your leash analogy does not work, because it is an American leash, or an American band-aid, for an American occupying force that is rejected. So we are back to the fleas again.

I understand that you say my comment was unrelated to your point, but it was not irrelevant to some broader points. You did write on your blog, “I think the lack of oversight of military contracting might be the biggest reason things are so screwed up in Iraq.” The biggest reason? You mean, not the invasion or what preceded it, and followed it? I think there is a much bigger picture that is being missed here, and that is because the vast majority of North American discussions, including anthropological debates, has been satisified with positions and opinions that negate Iraqi and Afghan perspectives…even when they are offered.

I think that too often what we see in these discussions is people taking U.S. occupation as an unquestionable starting point. You yourself say above, “It’s not as easy as saying that the occupation should just end and there will be no need for HTT.” I ask: why not? It was that easy when Russia responded to Georgia’s aggression–both the U.S. and the E.U. just told Russia, flat out, to leave. So I don’t accept their presence as permanent, but far more importantly, there is no evidence that either most Iraqis or most Afghans are prepared to accept their presence (or they wouldn’t be attacked). Journalists have been to both Iraq and Afghanistan, and have been with HTTs — Newsweek, the New York Times, and now Harper’s. They have been in the presence of Iraqis and Afghans in all of these instances. Can you remember what the latter said about HTTs?

We agree on some key points, but where we depart is in thinking that the only way to answer questions is through ethnography. That is a prejudice of this discipline in its current state. Also, ethnography won’t do the thinking for us if we start with unquestioned assumptions, it will just degenerate into an exercise of “seek and ye shall find.” As I have said in different ways before, I am not waiting to see the Human Terrain System work, or work well, I am waiting to see it get booted. A nicely functioning “humanitarian” component of counterinsurgency and pacification is just that, an exercise in domination, and I can’t accept it.

Your argument seems to be that if they don’t like the occupation, there is no way they would like the Human Terrain Teams working with the occupying forces. You may be perfectly correct. However, this is an argument based on considering the situation logically. However, it does not address your concern about having the perspective of the Iraqis or Afghanistanis. You assume you know what they think but it is really an empirical question. When we try to imagine what others are thinking, we often get it wrong, which is why we do fieldwork and get people to tell us what they think themselves. You may think it is impossible that there would be a positive feeling about HTTs in Afghanistan and Iraq, but what do we know? I don’t agree with your analogy about the dogs of war. You can resent the dogs of war, but still appreciate a leash, especially if you’ve seen what happens without the leash.

Now, are HTTs leashes or fleas? I don’t think we have any good evidence yet to make that decision, especially evidence from the perspective of Iraqis and Afghanistanis, who are supposed to be the main objectives of the program. I think that if the HTT wants to convince others that they are doing good things, they need to start doing some independent evaluation including getting the perspective of the locals. All I’ve heard/read are nice anecdotes. That’s not good enough.

This point is related to the issue that was brought up in the Harper’s article that I hadn’t seen anywhere else. More and more US international aid projects are being run out of the military and not the typical agencies of State and USAID. It’s not as easy as saying that the occupation should just end and there will be no need for HTT. The military is trying to do humanitarian assistance projects without any expertise in the international aid business or even in understanding cultural differences. This leads to things like programs having no evaluation component. USAID has to include a way to define and evaluate the success or lack of success of their projects. It is a huge component of their activities. The US Army is trying to do the same kinds of projects without any evaluation. Projects without attention towards outcomes can cause more problems than they solve, especially for the people who are supposedly the beneficiaries of the projects. What’s worse is that they are trying to do these aid projects with soldiers who are trained to kill and walk around with weapons and are often absolutely clueless about understanding human beings who are not like themselves. In my opinion, the HTT is a band-aid to address a problem created by bad policy. We still don’t even know if the band-aid is even doing its job as a band-aid. So I wholeheartedly agree that there needs to be the perspectives of Iraqis and Afghanistanis added to the discussion and that is in fact the most important element. But I’m not holding my breath.

I also don’t want to see articles about anthropological careers and the HTS. I think that is the least important issue of them all.

I expect there would be a range of local opinions about HTS. What we already do know is that the majority of Iraqis have wanted the U.S. out since Day 1…as I said in a post on this blog: when you reject the dogs of war, you hardly accept the dogs’ fleas. What we also know is that in Afghanistan locals will not be repeating the absurd and preposterous claims that HTTs saved lives and lessened violence, when the U.S. has stepped up air strikes, killed many more civilians, and the war has been ramped up. No, I really doubt villagers would honestly say “we are happy that the HTT is here” — freely and of their own accord. What’s been stopping them from saying so thus far? Why didn’t Featherstone record any jubilant welcomes? Why hasn’t anyone? In fact, where in Afghanistan are any nation’s occupying forces celebrated…that is, outside of Karzai’s immediate office?

I’d be happy to see an article about the perspective of people in Iraq and Afghanistan about HTT. I liked the Harper’s article because it had more on-the-ground information than anything else I have read about the program. I also appreciated it because I didn’t think we needed another article about how HTT might hurt academic anthropologists’ careers. More inclusion of Iraqi and Afghanistani perspectives would be great, but I’ll take what I can get.

How would you react if they said that they were happy that the HTT was there? Have you even considered that possibility?