Reports from Iraq are often numbingly wide-focus, with sparse attention given to the specific interactions and dynamics taking place in areas which share little in common in terms of daily realities. We are left with an image of "Iraq" shaped by headlines rather than in-depth analysis or perspective. Here, a couple of links to articles that offer snapshots into how non-military people working with the US on the ground see the situation.
FIRST, in a look at a controversial new US military program, the Human Terrain Team (HTT), Peter Graff profiles the work of an anthropologist embedded with US soldiers in Baghdad whose expertise and approach are apparently shifting relationships between US forces and local people.
"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.
"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."
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.
Read the full article here.
While the American Anthropological Association has denounced the use of anthropological techniques and knowledge for military and political purposes, this article does highlight the fact that, apparently, knowledge of the culture, social networks, and history of Iraq has not until recently been seen as important to US involvement in that country. Amazing.
NEXT, a transcript of a recent briefing by leaders of "embedded provincial reconstruction teams" used by the US military and State Department to direct their reconstruction efforts . This briefing included team leaders from Ramadi, Diyala, and one part of Baghdad.
Read down a bit, and you might notice an interesting reference to Iranian involvement in Diyala (emphasis added):
QUESTION: Is it -- is there U.S. involvement, though? I mean --
MR. JONES: Yes. There are CERP funds, there are U.S.
dollars, there is -- there are a lot of Iranian dollars being put into
this. They have their own engineers. They know their systems. They come
out to see them. They make recommendations and we help them to
implement them.
QUESTION: I've got a few questions for Mr. Jones and then one for all of you.
Mr. Jones, in Diyala, how much of a role are the Iranians
playing at this rate, and how much of it is positive and how much of it
is negative in Diyala? You mentioned they were doing something just
now.
MR. JONES: You know, that's really sort of out of my
lane. I think you need to really talk to the military guys about that.
We don't see Iranians. We have heard stories, of course, from officials
that things have been going bad because of Iranian influence.
Personally, and for other members of the PRT, we haven't had any direct
contact with Iranians.
QUESTION: Okay. I thought you mentioned just a minute ago that the Iranians were contributing --
MR. JONES: There's an electric generation plant in Iran that supplies a small amount of electricity to the province.
QUESTION: Okay.
MR. JONES: Okay.
Really? US provincial reconstruction teams are coordinating directly with Iranian engineers to help set up projects in Diyala?
The transcript goes on to address the concern of one journalist about "concerned citizens councils" - what many Iraqis call sahwa ("awakening") councils - "turning into militias". Can assume that by "militias" he means perhaps "armed groups with limited accountability and transparency, pursuing their own agendas, away from the goals of the United States in Iraq"?
An important question, certainly, given that they are receiving money and arms from the US, and are assuming governmental responsibilities in the areas
where they operate.
But isn't "pursuing their own agendas" the reason that many of these groups allied themselves with the US in the first place?
Recent articles on Electronic Iraq:
