Robert Kaplan compared the British in the Middle East to birdwatchers in "The Arabists." Experts who loved their subjects, but never really connected.

His comments remind me of the ethical debate about social scientists working for the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its kind of an indictment of social science that they don't want to get involved, for fear of tainting themselves. Precisely what is the purpose of social science if, when you really need to understand how people interact, the experts are above such things? You end up with a bunch of amateurs anthropologists in the military (and state and NGO community), doing the best they can (while reading Killcullen's book). And the bird watchers in the social science community critize them for not understanding the people better.

Birdwatching is easy. Try convincing the birds to do something they don't want to do.

Those are the rules for:

Economic Analysis & Forecasting

Political Analysis in Egypt

So bird-wathcing also uses the? Fascinating.

As a former infanteer looking for a unique experience I took on a government gig in the Canadian North as an economic development officer a couple of years back. I wish this insight came around while I was tasked with leading the development of a birding tourism for the region - (Imagine an infanteer in a room full of birders!) If I could of made the connection between birding and COIN I probably wouldn't of left my civvie job the way I did.

When I am asked by friends why I am so happy to birdwatch I point out its best benefit -- as you get to know the birds, you master their vocalizations. When you walk into your backyard, to work, around the city, you hear all kinds of distinct calls. If you know the birds, you know who's where and maybe what they're announcing. It adds richness and depth to the simple experience of standing in your backyard; your senses can rush out and tell you everything that is around you. And you realize how, not knowing how to read those signs, you had previously dismissed them and in fact barely heard them at all.

Which says maybe more birdwatchers should deploy!

I also remember walking through a parking lot on Fort Bragg with someone in my unit. Suddenly, not five feet in front of our knees, a red-tailed hawk tore through the air trying to lose the angry mockingbird that was harassing it (and, _there's_ a lesson for counterinsurgency...). I stopped, awed -- and my companion, oblivious. turned to me to ask what happened. So I think if you can't distinguish or or even see the birds and trees and animals you are completely surrounded with every day -- and it amazes me how few military know a sparrow from a chickadee, say -- I question whether your observational skill is worth much downrange.

I learned from the Red cockaded woodpecker. Those guys will f' up your training at Fort Benning.

This is slightly off topic but while I was in Iraq my office was near this large marshy lake. In the winter I noticed a lovely flock that spent much of the winter there. They were very nice birds with yellow legs. After talking to some others that had been in Iraq awhile, we came to find out that flock came every winter. Well, that summer engineers on the base decided to drain the lake (for reasons I'll never understand). All the fish in the lake died, and they died this slow horrible death as the lake was slowly drained out. All along, I was really worried about the birds. Well, the next winter the birds never came.

An old Lakota proverb state: We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.

I see a couple of people commented on the disruption in training areas by the Cockaded Woodpecker at places such as Ft. Benning, and Ft. Polk. I assure you they are well known at Camp Lejuene as well. The little feathered creatures took me by surprise once when I belatedly requested a training area there years ago.. This further lead, as it always does, to me looking into who, what, and where, no matter who, what and where.

It seems they select that particular type of southern pine because a by-product of carving out a hollow in the tree for their nest also produces a pine sap that runs down and creates a barrier against climbing snakes - it probably burns the reptile's tummy.

The bottom line is: like Central Park, military reservations have become wildlife sanctuaries as civilian development has crept closer to our bases. Critters of all stripes, and feathers have sought refuge aboard, carving-out habitat. Good commanders, and NCO's understand this and take this into account in planning accordingly when looking at training areas well in advance.

In sharing this, I leave you with another proverb my Grandfather was fond of saying: A good Soldier is not necessarily a good scout - if you savvy?

v/r Sunkamanitu tanka : o

Something that bird watching has in common with discussion of foreign policy is a tendency to focus on particularly remarkable events. Just as a bird watcher who becomes enchanted with a particular very rare bird may miss three others that he should spend a little time looking at, the observer of foreign policy may treat something like the events as Egypt as the only thing that is going on. To see how this works, look at Foreign Policy's coverage of Egypt and Pakistan

US relations with Pakistan are currently in something of a crisis, because a US "diplomat" shot two Pakistanis, and there has been some ambiguity over his diplomatic status. The Pakistani ambassador to the US has pressured the Pakistani government to release the killer, because the US has stopped talking to him. Dawn, the most reliable newspaper in Pakistan, reports that the wife of one of the victims attempted to commit suicide because the Pakistani government is going to hand Davis back to the US.

This is not as remarkable as what is happening in Egypt, but it shouldn't be ignored either. The US press, but not the Pakistani press, is mostly ignoring it. It's not appropriate to discuss my opinions about this here, but if you want to read more you can consult my blog at:

http://rememberjenkinsear.blogspot.com/

This has a number of links relevant to the issue, so you can follow them for further research.

Thanks for reading this.