COB Basra – From inception, Soldiers are trained not to ask the question why? Maybe where? or when? – but never why. However, in today’s battlefield, why? is more important than ever.
“If Soldiers want to know, ‘Why are the children throwing rocks at us?’ and ‘Why are they rocketing us?’ That’s what we do,” said Leslie Kayanan, team leader of the Human Terrain System team assigned to the 34th Inf. Div.
HTS, which was started in June of 2006 and expanded by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in 2007, is a program that seeks to study cultural perceptions by attaching anthropological research teams to combat units in Iraq and Afghanistan. Currently there are 21 teams in country, one for each brigade, division and corps. “We are groups of scientists, and we work embedded with units,” said 1st Lt. Nestor Carrasquillo, a San Antonio, Tex., native and research manager for the HTS team attached to the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division. “We talk to the local population and provide the commander with our assessment.”
“On every team we have social scientists who are formally trained researchers,” said Dr. Rubye Braye, a social scientist and a retired Lieutenant Colonel. “Team members have an opportunity to obtain the perceptions of the Iraqi people on key issues to better understand their needs and requirements. This gives them the opportunity to be the voice of the people back to the command.”
For instance, Braye recently spoke on behalf of Iraqi workers who worked on Contingency Operating Base Basra. “We have Iraqis who come on the installation to work. And there has been concern that one of the gates has concertina wire and a very narrow path, so that if anybody would slip and fall they would fall into the concertina wire. They had said that it was disrespectful to walk along a criminal-like path.“ After learning about the situation, Braye met with 34th Inf. Div. leadership. “We discussed alternative ways of security that would communicate a message of respect.” In addition, HTS scientists inform military leadership of the specific cultural characteristics in a region. “For example,” said Braye, “the commander may have critical information requirements and we would take those requirements and turn them into a survey or a interview for the local people.”
Through surveys and face-to-face interaction, HTS scientists ask Iraqis such questions as Are you scared to vote in the elections? Do you trust the Iraqi police? Are there any disputes in your village? What can Coalition forces do for you? “We can talk to the sheikhs, and we do, but the common person can tell us a lot more,” said Kayanan.
In fact, interactions with the people of Iraq revealed an avenue of communication previously unexplored by Coalition forces. “Most people think that the tribe members are entirely influenced by the sheikhs. They’re not,” said Kayanan. “They’re also influenced by the sayyid.”
The sayyid, especially in a tribe that has links to a holy person, is not a religious person, but is nominally related to Mohammed and esteemed for their wisdom and judgment, said Kayanan.
“If it’s business, they’ll go to the sheikh,” said Kayanan. “But if it’s a matter of wisdom, they’ll go to the sayyid. That’s something we found out within a matter of three to four weeks, going out every other day.”
“And it’s more than just providing raw data,” added Braye. “We analyze the data to determine the second and third order effects. When a decision or an option is being considered, we assess the effect it will have on the local population.” A recent study done by HTS on the marshes of southern Iraq illustrates this process.
Often considered the location of the Biblical Garden of Eden, the fertile marshes of southern Iraq were once considered the breadbasket of the Middle East. But, like the Biblical Eden, paradise was lost through the evils of man. In what can be called ecological genocide, Saddam Hussein destroyed the marshes after the first Gulf War in order to drive out the dissident Marsh Arabs. Once twice the size of the Florida Everglades, the marshes are now a fraction of their former size.
Taking all this data in conjunction with their own data gathering, HTS scientists informed 34th Inf. Div. leadership not only on the current situation, but also on possibilities for the future. “We believe that we should support the restoration of the marshes,” said Braye. “If that is done, the second order effect is that you will have businesses and agri-businesses that will be restarting, farmers that live in the area will be able to farm to the extent that they did in the past.”
“Restoring the marshes,” added Kayanan, “will bring back the local economy and stop arms smuggling.”
“The command is very interested in ensuring employment,” added Braye. “If people have jobs, they’re less likely to be co-opted by al-Qaeda or insurgents.”
The third order effect, said Kayanan, would be the goodwill generated by the fact that the government of Iraq is working to restore an area ravaged by the old regime; it would be a highly symbolic gesture showing the people of Iraq that the government of Iraq is back in the business of serving its citizens.
“The focus,” said Braye, “is on helping people be able to realize, first political stability where there’s a government in place that really works, and then to have that government work to promote economic opportunity for people6 who desire meaningful work other instead of payments from insurgents to attack Coalition forces.”
“I am really excited that one day the Iraqi children will see conflict resolution settled non-violently, and that they will have the tools to know that there are things you can do to settle and resolve conflict without having to resort to violent means,” said Braye.
While critics have pointed to HTS as an example of the military “weaponizing anthropology”, Braye and her peers believe that their work will bring long-lasting benefits to the people of Iraq. “If the weapon is using tools of peace to better understand those we have conflicts with, and to use those tools to resolve conflicts peacefully, then that’s the weapon. I would challenge my colleges who say we are weaponizing a tool that I believe is being used to promote peace,” said Braye. “Our goal is to help save lives, and that includes both U.S. lives and Iraqi lives.”
