Third "Human Terrain" Researcher Dead (Afghanistan)

[lanlady]

Source: Wired.com

For the third time in eight months, a social scientist with the Army's Human Terrain cultural research program has died.

In early November, while on patrol in an Afghan village, Paula Loyd was doused with a flammable liquid, and set on fire. She suffered second- and third-degree burns over 60 percent of her body. Loyd was rushed to a nearby medical center, where she was treated by a burn specialist. Shortly thereafter, Loyd was evacuated to the military's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, and then to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. But after a two month struggle, she was overcome by her injuries.

This is the latest in a series of attacks on Human Terrain personnel. In May, Michael Bhatia, an Oxford-trained political scientist working in eastern Afghanistan, was killed, along with two soldiers, by a roadside explosive. Less than two months later, a bomb detonated inside the Sadr City District Council building in Iraq. Social scientist Nicole Suveges was inside. She and 11 others died instantly.

The small staff of the Human Terrain program is "reeling" from this latest death, one employee tells Danger Room. "Paula dearly loved Afghanistan -- it showed in the way her face lit up whenever she spoke of it. In the field, her work was stellar, and more than that, she was deeply kind, too. We'll miss her terribly."

Read more: http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/01/third-human-ter.h...

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This is so horrifying. Another young victim of our insane, endless wars.

[NOW tense]

1. Am I the only one that didn't know

about anthropology in the military?

[Tab]

2. I've never heard of the "Human Terrain" program

but burn victims.... that's a terrible way to die. Unfortunately, and I hate to say it, it might be a mercy. That's not to say it shouldn't have happened in the first place.

[NOW tense]

4. I think it is horrible.

I didn't mean to offend anyone by posting about the program and not the tragedy of death.

[tanyev]

3. Nature: Shut Down Army's 'Human Terrain'

By Noah Shachtman December 11, 2008

Over the summer, one of the world's leading scientific journals gave a cautious thumbs-up to the Human Terrain System, the U.S. Army's combat zone cultural studies project. Today, in an editorial that can only be described as scathing, Nature says the $130 million program is "failing on every level" and "needs to be closed down."

The relationship between the Human Terrain program and the academic social science community has been strained from the start. The executive board of the American Anthropological Association, for instance, was calling the program unethical while there were only a handful of Human Terrain Teams on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. What kind of social science research can take place, the Association asked, when everyone involved is carrying a gun?

The Ivory Tower opposition to Human Terrain only grew louder, after whistleblowers charged the program's chief contractor, BAE Systems, with improperly vetting and training its employees. More concerns were raised, when two Human Terrain social scientists were killed in separate incidents, seven weeks apart.

Then, in September, Human Terrain social scientist Paula Loyd was set on fire during a research foray in Afghanistan. Her teammate, Don Ayala, shot the attacker -- and then was charged with second-degree murder in U.S. court. Days later, Human Terrain employee Issam Hamama was indicted for spying on America, on behalf of the Saddam Hussein regime. For Nature, these incidents were the final straws. "In theory, is a good idea," the editorial says. "In practice, however, it has been a disaster.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/12/nature-shut-dow.h...

[Ian David]

5. "Curious social custom, this 'setting people ablaze' is. "

"Curious social custom, this 'setting people ablaze' is. This unusual form of greeting will require further study, as it does not fit into any current anthropological theories."

[High Plains]

6. Social scientists working for Pentagon are part of the imperial war machine.

What are they doing? Understanding the culture so the Pentagon can manipulate it more easily?

Tough luck.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

7. Somewhat OT- that article's first sentence is REALLY bad.

It makes it sound like the same person died three times.

Are there NO real journalists left in the world????

[Marrah_G]

8. What a horrible way to die.