An amended complaint and related documentation was filed November 24-25 by the US government against defense contractor Don Ayala, the human terrain team (HTT) member who, according to US military witnesses, allegedly shot in the head and instantly killed a previously subdued and zip-cuffed Afghani national. The Afghani had doused fellow HTT member Paula Loyd with flammable liquid and set her ablaze, a fate that all too often befalls Afghani women who show signs of independence—an insult to many Afghani males. Sources say Paula Loyd's conditions grows increasingly worse. She is suffering from numerous infections and pneumonia

Don Ayala of Human Terrain Team AF-4 Blue is being held in detention at Bagram AB in Afghanistan under excruciating circumstances. The Commanding General, Major General Jeffrey Schloesser, 101st Airborne Division and Lieutenant Colonel Roger Neil reportedly control Ayala’s legal fate and are responsible for the quality of Ayala’s treatment while incarcerated. According to sources, Ayala is receiving treatment akin to that of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Enemy Combatants. He is apparently being denied limited or any form of due process under US military or US civilian law

Another wave of Human Terrain System (HTS) program shortcomings has recently come to light. One of the reports alleges fraud/theft involving an US government IMPAC credit card and Mark Beattie of HTS program management. According to sources, the alleged fraud/theft was “was smoothed over by the powers that be”. Those “powers” are likely the upper command/civilian-contractor elements charged with oversight of the US Army/TRADOC HTS program

Many in the HTS program predict more deaths will occur because Human Terrain Team (HTT) members are poorly prepared for an insurgency environment and no one is providing a risk analysis for deployed members. One source indicated that a social scientist stationed with the US Marines in Al Anbar is “chasing IED’s” while another went out on a shopping adventure days after arriving in-theater. The social scientist, who has a Masters degree in communications, boasted in a blog about an escape from danger in Iraq by speeding recklessly through the streets of Baghdad while blaring music from a car. Another social scientist commented, “we are all islands of autonomy … doing what we want.”

“Let’s just put the program on the ground and see if it works…” That statement from a high-level US Army official sums up the ongoing ad hoc, mercenary approach of the leaders of the US Army’s (TRADOC) Human Terrain System (HTS) program. As a result, multiple sources say that the HTS program is in the crash and burn phase. One source wondered, “Why did Intelligence, Civil Affairs, PSYOP and Special Forces allow their turf to be trampled on by TRADOC DCSINT?

According to sources, United States Army brigade commanders privately believe that the US Army's TRADOC Human Terrain System (HTS) program is a “joke” and completely unnecessary. The HTS program is publicly supported by brigade military commanders, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, only because it is a “pet project” of the currently politically popular US Army General David Petraeus

There are fundamental flaws not in the constitutional construct of the United States but in the people who are occupying positions in at least two of the three branches of the US government. Americans are crying about gas prices. A pity they can’t buy as many hot dogs or beers at the baseball stadium. They need to adjust and adapt. Americans have always been told that they are the best at everything, so why aren’t they? Americans are not entitled to anything more than the rest of the world. Do they want education systems, roads, bridges and levees that function properly? Well then they need to stop whining about taxes and pay up or make those who pay nothing pull their weight

The uniformed, active duty members of the United States military are now the only force potent enough to stop the corporatization of America’s public goods: its land, its air, its water, its people, its institutions, its infrastructure, and its rapidly deteriorating social compact.

The inability of the Pentagon to account for billions in missing funds here at home and in Iraq, ongoing criminal investigations spread across the entire national security landscape, and sensational resignations, arrests and convictions are unprecedented in US history. There is more here than just a few “bad apples.” It is a systemic problem made worse by the absence of leadership at the highest levels. There is self-interest, to be sure, but that is different from leadership

Just when it seemed unlikely that domestic and international events would unfold to test an already incompetent US government, along comes the acceleration of the movement to destroy Iran. That effort has been well documented over the past few years in scores of articles and position papers from the usual suspects in the media, think-tanks, and the Net. What’s missing in that coverage?