US Army: Pissing people off is bad for occupation
Oct 5th, 2007, 08:33 am
According to The New York Times, the US Army has begun recruiting anthropologists and sociologists to help with military operations in Afghanistan:
Since Gen. David H. Petraeus, now the overall American commander in Iraq, oversaw the drafting of the Army’s new counterinsurgency manual last year, the strategy has become the new mantra of the military. A recent American military operation here offered a window into how efforts to apply the new approach are playing out on the ground in counterintuitive ways.
In interviews, American officers lavishly praised the anthropology program, saying that the scientists’ advice has proved to be “brilliant,” helping them see the situation from an Afghan perspective and allowing them to cut back on combat operations.
The aim, they say, is to improve the performance of local government officials, persuade tribesmen to join the police, ease poverty and protect villagers from the Taliban and criminals. (more)
Um, isn’t it obvious that learning the savage’s culture is essential for civilizing, er, I mean, bringing democracy to them? You can bomb and shoot them all you want, but it takes much more to keep them under control.
Anthropology arose during the great era of European colonization when the white man traveled the world and encountered strange and interesting savages. Due to his superior culture and intellect, he realized early on that he must learn about the cultures of his subjects to find ways to best dominate and civilize them. Perhaps America’s military leaders should have learned from the masters. How else are you gonna play your subjects against each other if you don’t know what ticks them off?
In the video, Col. Martin Schweitzer, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division unit, discusses the changes that the social scientists have brought to the military’s tactics: “… [I]n ‘02 we used to kick in doors, and ‘07, the Afghan army or Afghan police knock on the door and request to come in.” And they needed academics to tell them that kicking in doors instead of kindly knocking pisses people off?
Okay, it’s good the Army finally realizes that force alone does more harm than good, but it just amazes me that it took them nearly six years to seriously ask why the Afghans behave the way they do. Dude, just do a friggin’ Wikipedia search! If look beyond your own narrow world view, it’s really not that hard to learn about someone else’s culture.