Iraq's Human Terrain

The Army is creating a new unit called the Human Terrain System. Basically it's an effort to apply the lesson that the only way to defeat an insurgency is to understand, and to win over, the general population. One component of the System will be 5-man Human Terrain Teams (HTTs) that support units in the field, advising them on how to tailor their operations to the population. I am on one of those HTTs. Here's some info on the HTS:

• Just about the only thing the Army has published on HTS
• A George Packer article from The New Yorker
• And, a post from the Danger Room, the defense blog over at Wired
  

I've always been a ridiculous news hound. Since I've started this job, I've begun turning that tendency towards Iraq stuff. So, I'll be using this blog to point to the most interesting new stuff that comes out on Iraq. There will be nothing classified or sensitive on here, so don't look for it. There probably won't even be much analysis on here, because however I might try to avoid it I don't want to risk accidentally giving analysis that draws on classified sources, even if they're unmentioned.

I see two primary audiences for this blog: other members of HTS, and personnel in the unit I'm supporting. This way I can pass on stuff I find interesting without cluttering up anyone's inbox. Anyone interested in the stuff I'm passing on can subscribe (Blogger is RSS capable -- you can click here to learn more about RSS Subscriptions) or just check in every now and then. Anyone not interested is spared the emails I would otherwise have been bothering them with.

And with that, I'll be passing on the first article momentarily...