"Experts"

[Tom Odom]

Rory Stewart's take on a famed British Middle East expert comes to mind here.

Expertise isn't everything. Then again, I think one of OIF's lessons is that this maxim is not an excuse for refusing or or ignoring all knowledge of the area in question.

I have for years refused to use the word expert because it is rather like the word "terrorist," completely abused, misused, and consequently trite in application.

As a FAO I was a specialist, meaning I knew more than most and could offer informed insights based on experience and study. Most Middle East FAOs--at least the ones I respected--considered Lawrence to be a flawed model and certainly Gertrude Bell falls into the same camp. A spoiled social poodle with too much time on her hands, she took up mountain climbing and then switched to fashioning Iraq. Funny that --and Rory Stewart makes this point rather well--the acclaim for Bell like that for Lawrence all came from fellow imperialist Brits with a smattering of others thrown in. My own contacts in the region dismissed Lawrence as a "spy" when they were being kind.

On the other hand it was and still is interesting to see and hear people accept pronouncements about regions, peoples, or ideas without ever bothering to shine any kind of intellectual light on those pronouncements. PPT and the 15 second sound bite have only made this tendency more damaging. On a macro level, this is where I have real problems with folks who suggest the Israelis are "Arab experts" based on a half century of continuous conflict.

Tom

[Stan]

Hi Gian !
I fully concur; Colin’s piece deserves much more than two drive-bys. Mr. Peters would have been better served by introducing himself (which was requested and subsequently ignored).

There is however a good point herein that several individuals more than adequately addressed regarding so-called experts.

RTK’s post is food for thought, and one I can completely related to. I would add the caveat that ‘academically or documented’ experts are little more than ‘subject matter’ experts. I don’t fully agree that one should have boots on the ground for millenniums in order to be considered an expert (there), but it certainly doesn’t hurt to have those years (there on the ground) when all is said and done.

I think there's a fine line between experts and people that think they know what they're doing. Further, I think this applies to any discipline or field of study.

For instance, as an instructor of reconnaissance tactics, I probably have more knowledge in the field of study than 99% of the Army. That doesn't mean I know 99% of what there is to know about reconnaissance.

I do have one comment in closing however. An individual with no military background simply cannot (in any way shape or form) relate to or conclude something was ‘fumbled or messed up’ during a firefight, massive refugee crisis, social and political upheaval, or overtaking an enemy position.

Regards, Stan

[Rex Brynen]

I do have one comment in closing however. An individual with no military background simply cannot (in any way shape or form) relate to or conclude something was ‘fumbled or messed up’ during a firefight, massive refugee crisis, social and political upheaval, or overtaking an enemy position.

I tend to agree, Stan--at least in the sense that academic experts or journalists sometimes draw military conclusions on issues where they have little real experience and knowledge.

As an aside, it also applies to military folks who draw quick conclusions about diplomats or aid workers messing up when they've never tried to build a sustainable multinational consensus or deal with the dilemmas of emergency food aid vs negative effects on local agricultural production (etc).

For that reason, I'm a big fan of cross-postings, interdisciplinary and interdepartmental training processes, secondments, academics spending time in the applied/policy world, etc.

[Stan]

Hey Rex!

I tend to agree, Stan--at least in the sense that academic experts or journalists sometimes draw military conclusions on issues where they have little real experience and knowledge.

As an aside, it also applies to military folks who draw quick conclusions about diplomats or aid workers messing up when they've never tried to build a sustainable multinational consensus or deal with the dilemmas of emergency food aid vs negative effects on local agricultural production (etc).

For that reason, I'm a big fan of cross-postings, interdisciplinary and interdepartmental training processes, secondments, academics spending time in the applied/policy world, etc.

I couldn’t agree more. We collectively have some serious lessons to learn. Tom and I were ‘blessed’ with being around true to life interdepartmental ‘foxtroting’, that I have ever experienced in my life. That said, I did take a few lessons with me and they have paid off 10-fold.