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HUMAN TERRAIN As a Tool to Build Community what you’ll find inside! • about the film & filmmakers • ready to watch! screening guide • study / discussion guide Bullfrog Community Screening & Discussion Guide Roll out the red carpet! Use your screening of HUMAN TERRAIN as a tool to build community. Spark discussion and action to address the ethical implications of the human terrain systems program. This guide offers background information plus helpful tips and discussion questions for a stirring, informative, and rewarding screening. Good Luck! For additional resources, visit humanterrain.bullfrogcommunities.com/humt_resources About HUMAN TERRAIN Facing long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military initiates `Human Terrain Systems’, a controversial program that seeks to make cultural awareness the centerpiece of the new counterinsur- gency strategy. Designed to embed social scientists with combat troops, the program swiftly comes under attack as a misguided and unethical effort to gather intelligence and target enemies. Gaining rare access to wargames in the Mojave Desert and training exer- cises at Quantico and Fort Leavenworth, HUMAN TERRAIN takes the viewer into the heart of the war machine and a shadowy collabora- tion between American academics and the military. About the Directors James Der Derian is a research professor of international stud- ies at the Watson Institute, where he directs the Global Media Project. He has produced two other documentaries and is the author of several books. Filmmakers Michael and David Udris (Udris Film) produce feature documentaries and commercial projects. Their work has screened internationally at film festivals, in museums, and on television. In addition, Michael has been a Visiting Assistant Professor and David the Media Facilities Man- ager at Brown’s Center for Modern Culture and Media. ready to watch! Here are some ideas and best practices to help make your community screening of HUMAN TERRAIN a success! 1. Publicize Your Event! This is the most important step. Not only can you tell the world about your screening, but you can also let the Bullfrog Community team know about your plans so we can help you publicize your event. Visit humanterrain.bullfrogcommunities.com/humt_screenings to register your screening of HUMAN TERRAIN. 2. Visualize Your Goal! What do you hope to achieve with your screening? Your goal could be to generate a lively post-film discussion about foreign policy, ethics, and the role of academics in military opeartions. Or, you can simply provide an opportunity for families to watch and learn together. 3. Where To Host? Consider which locations in your area would be ideal for accommodating a com- munity film screening of the size you anticipate: churches, town halls, private homes and even high schools have been venues for many successful community screenings. 4. Find A Partner! Give some thought to who is already working on this issue in your community. Can they help sponsor the event? Spread the word? Speak on a panel discussion after the screening? Some potential partners include: anthropology departments at colleges, universities, and high schools, local representatives of the military, and organizations concerned with international relations and/or foreign policy. Links to some of these organizations are available at humanterrain.bullfrogcommunities. com/humt_resources. 5. Invite A Guest Speaker! Guest speakers and panels are a great way to encourage discussion and debate after a community screening. When people are engaged and thinking about the issues they will stay engaged long after the screening has passed. Contact local non-profit representatives, teachers, professionals, or government officials who have expertise or insight into the issues raised by the film, and invite them to attend and participate in a discussion or Q&A session. The filmmakers are available to appear in person or via Skype for a Q&A. Contact Bullfrog Communities if you are interested. 6. Engage Your Audience! Included in this handout is a section called Ready to Act! which is meant to be a hand-out at your screening. It will help your audience know what they can do to educate themselves about key issues brought up in the film. 7. Spread The Word! Think about the best methods available to you for publicizing the film screen- ing to people in your community. Sending emails, creating event notifications on Facebook or Meetup, using Twitter, and placing screening announcements in local newspapers and newsletters is a good start. Find the HUMAN TERRAIN screening poster, discussion guide (includes handout), and press photos on humanterrain.bullfrogcommunities.com/humt_resources to help publicize your event around town. 8. Tell Us How It Went! Visit humanterrain.bullfrogcommunities.com/humt_discussion to tell us about your event. Where it was held? Who attended? What went well, and what was challenging? Your feedback will help others in organizing their own successful events and will energize the Bullfrog Civil Rights Community as a whole. 2 Human Terrain STUDY GUIDE Chapter One The Culture of War “We’re not killers. We’re professional killers. We don’t kill women and children. We kill those people who are trying to kill us.” Sergeant Frank Tramano “No better friend; no worse enemy.” Major General O’Dell Soldiers train at a mock Iraqi village at 29 Palms Marine Corps Combat Center, California Source: Global Media Project Chapter Summary In Iraq and Afghanistan, as the conflicts shift from conventional warfare to counterinsurgency, military officials recognize the need for ‘cultural awareness’ of the local populations.As Major General Douglas V. O’Dell, Jr noted, “We’re in a different war. We are in a war that is as much a cultural struggle as it is a military struggle.” In 2004, Robert Scales (a former commandant Military Operations Other Than War of the Army’s War College) told reporters The U.S. military popularized the acronym MOOTW (Military Operations other than War) that the Iraq war “was fought brilliantly at in the 1990s. MOOTW involves using military the technological level, but inadequately at capabilities for a range of purposes that do not include traditional warfare (e.g., peacekeeping, the human level.” According to Scales, the arms control, assisting in response to domestic fundamental nature of war has changed. crises). According to the RAND Corporation, there were 846 MOOTW-type engagements Psychosocial warfare is now as important as between 1916-1996 in which the U.S. Air Force physical combat operations. In order to wage played a significant role. Cultural awareness is at the heart of MOOTW, because these effective psychosocial warfare, Scales argues, operations frequently involve the military the U.S. military must devote substantial interacting on the ground with local populations. resources to research and education. Human Terrain STUDY GUIDE In response to these perceived shortcomings, the U.S. military has poured millions of dollars into the development of an improved cultural understanding of the Muslim world. These efforts take a wide variety of forms, and include simulations where soldiers must navigate mock Iraqi villages and negotiate with Afghan elders. These exercises train solders in counterinsurgency tactics: “Cultivating trust and cooperation…at the same time they wage war on the insurgents.” The military has even invested in virtual trainings that use computer models and avatars to represent cultural scenarios. Objectives • Understand how the nature of warfare has changed over time, especially as represented by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan • Explain concepts such as urban warfare and counterinsurgency • Provide examples of military cultural awareness trainings Discussion Questions • How does “modern warfare” differ from “traditional warfare”? • What do you think “cultural awareness” means in the context of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan? • According to General Scales, victory in modern warfare is defined as “capturing the psycho-social high ground.” What does this mean? Is psychosocial warfare as dangerous as traditional warfare? Extra Readings • Army Criticized for Not Learning from Past Wars • Marine Commander Wants More Forces in Afghanistan • COIN Knowledge Center Human Terrain STUDY GUIDE Chapter Two War Becomes Academic “We need to base our actions on the truth that we find. Not on the truth we find from talking to each other as Americans, but on the truth we find from talking to Iraqis— what they see and what they think.” Lt. Col. Andrew R. Kennedy Soldiers practice negotiations with Iraqi elders Source: Global Media Project Chapter Summary While cultural awareness in the military has gained significant momentum in the post–9/11 world, it is not an entirely new concept for the U.S. military. According to the New York Times, a draft of the FY 1970 Department of Defense budget included $115,000 for “design, production, and evaluation of program of audiovisual instruction for development of cultural awareness.” Counterinsurgency operations throughout the cold war frequently involved “applied military anthropology.” The Vietnam War also taught the U.S. military important lessons about the value of cultural awareness. Gerald Hickey, an anthropologist who spent time in Vietnam as a researcher for the RAND Corporation, wrote that military leaders overrode the expertise of anthropologists and instead applied a conventional war approach to the conflict. Hickey (whose role as an anthropologist in a war zone is still considered highly controversial) believed that a strategic
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