Robert Young Pelton – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

Burlesque Afghanistan: Pulp Fiction from an Embedded “Reporter”

This is the second in a two part series on recent examples of the Human Terrain System in the military’s own media, and in military-embedded media. The first was “The Many Faces of the Human Terrain System in Iraq.” Much more remarkable, and coming from a supposedly professional journalist who embedded with the U.S. Army […]

by John Stanton

Human Terrain System Under Investigation: HTS Link to JIEDDO & US Death Squads

Human Terrain System Under Investigation: HTS Link to JIEDDO & US Death Squads by John Stanton 18 March 2010 “According to several government and civilian sources, [Michael] Furlong’s operation was funded under a $24.6 million contract by the Defense Department’s Joint IED Defeat Organization [JIEDDO], which was set up early in the Iraq war to […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Innocently Informing State Terrorism: Journalism, Knowledge, and Counterinsurgency

With President Barack Obama sending at least 30,000 additional American troops to knock the Taliban off-balance and a U.S.-led offensive in Helmand province, a better understanding of today’s Taliban is central to the effort to defeat them and to begin withdrawing some American troops from Afghanistan in summer 2011. (McClatchy, 14 March 2010) A very […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

McFate: “Does good anthropology contribute to better killing?”

Anthropology, Human Terrain’s Prehistory, and the Role of Culture in Wars Waged by Robots: From “Gentle Pursuasion” to “Better Killing” David Price CounterPunch, vol. 16, no. 17, Oct. 1-15, 2009, pages 1, 4-6. In the current print edition of CounterPunch, distributed to subscribers, David Price provides us with a very valuable in-depth look at the […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Questions and Allegations about Robert Young Pelton’s Reporting on a Human Terrain Team in Afghanistan

In a previous post titled, “Bumming a Ride with the Occupation Parade: A Look at Human Terrain Teams in Afghanistan,” I wrote about a new piece of “military travel writing,” specifically that of Robert Young Pelton and his article in the Men’s Journal titled, “Afghanistan: The New War for Hearts and Minds” (21 January 2009). […]