Human Terrain Systems and the Moral Prosecution of Warfare
Abstract
There is a growing consensus that cultural variables play an integral role in conflict mitigation. Whether one believes we are truly in a "long war," in which capturing "hearts and minds" is integral, or whether one thinks that a major combat operation is looming on the horizon, cultural knowledge and understanding of the area of operation are instrumental to success. The recently developed and implemented Human Terrain System (HTS) Project was designed to play an important role in developing cultural knowledge for the U.S. military and is critical to mission success and the moral prosecution of warfare. But this program is new and, admittedly, not perfect. Human Terrain Teams (HTTs) were designed to play a key, on-the-ground role in bridging the cultural and personal identity gap between western military forces and the foreign cultures in which they operate. This is an extremely important but often overlooked aspect of "just war" theory. A deeper understanding of not only adversarial but friendly culture and personal identity formation allows the U.S. military to better discriminate between friend and foe and to build deeper relationships with local leaders. These measures create a more precise and humane war effort than if the United States was forced to rely solely on indiscriminate, blunt, and largely kinetic options. The U.S. military does not have the ability to veto a political decision to go to war or abscond from any order to engage overseas. Having said this, the U.S. military does have a great say in how a campaign will be conducted and HTS was designed to play an integral role in ensuring that a campaign is conducted as morally and unobtrusively as possible.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA594882
Entities
People
- Dan G. Cox
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College