Cultural Insensitivities and Aggravating Factors in Iraq and Afghanistan

Abstract

When examining terrorism, you can find many reasons as to why people may resort to such violence; whether they be for financial purposes, religious incentives, revenge, or for the thrill of violence. However, in Western literature one aspect infrequently written about is how cultural insensitivities and other aggravating factors, presented in this paper, contribute to grievances that help solve the collective action problem posed by many organizations. Throughout my paper I introduce flaws in the handling of cultural practices in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, how they have plausible correlation with increased recruitment by extremist organizations, and what the Department of Defense is doing to the promote the elimination of these factors. This paper explores instances of cultural mishandlings and abuse at the arms of United States service members; including Abu Ghraib, U.S. drone strikes, and ground force activities. Using empirical data on the amount of terrorist attacks occurring in Iraq and Afghanistan and the dates of significant military incidents, I try to narrow the gap between grievances and the use of political violence by terrorist organizations. Later, I introduce programs created by the Department of Defense to increase cultural awareness and
boundaries of the regions that troops will be deployed to.