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DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Executive Memorandum


Date: 4/24/2013

Subject: How has the desecration of the Koran by U.S. Army demonstrated it lacks of cultural competence?  

To: Melissa Mastrogiovanni and Jonathan Ragone 

From: Rithy Huot and Nadiya Pavlishyn

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Introduction/Background:


In February of 2012 at the library of the Parwan detention center on the edge of Bagram Air Base, where thousands of Afghans captured by American and international forces are held, the United States troops tried to burn nearly 2,000 volumes of books, including about 500 Korans (Bumiller). According to the military, about 100 Korans and other religious texts were burned (Whitelock). This incident started after the military police officers and U.S. troops received report of prisoners communicating secretly through “illicit notes in the margins of library books” (Whitelock). The books were reviewed by interpreters and were deem to be extremist in nature. This incident demonstrated the U.S. troops’ and military police officers’ lack of cultural competence of the Islamic culture.    

 

Key Points:

 

1. Leaders need to understand business, political, and cultural environments worldwide (Northouse 383). (The United States Army’s failure to provide its troops with significant understanding of Middle Eastern culture led to cultural ignorance and miscommunication.)

2. Leaders need to learn the perspectives, tastes, trends, and technologies of many other cultures (Northouse 383). (The United States Army’s failure to adapt and incorporated Middle Eastern culture within its ranks led to the misinterpretation of holy text, the Koran, for illicit notes.)

3. Leaders need to be able to work simultaneously with people from many cultures (Northouse 384). (The United States’ Army’s failure to educate soldiers on other cultures, the significance of diversity, and the importance of being respectful resulted in extreme interference in the cooperation of the Army with Afghan officials working toward a common goal.)

4. Leaders must be able to adapt to living and communicating in other cultures (Northouse 384). (The United States’ Army’s failure to adequately prepare soldiers for missions in places with other cultures led to the soldiers being ignorant to the customs associated with the culture and communication was impeded by them not respecting the cultural differences.)

5. Leaders need to learn to relate to people from other cultures from a position of equality rather cultural superiority (Northouse 384).  (The soldiers abused their power to devalue the importance of the Koran to the Afghan people and disgraced their religion and on a greater scale, their whole culture. Their condescending attitude and disregard for the Islamic culture all over the world exemplifies their vision of themselves as a superior culture.)

 

Challenges To Overcome:

 

  1. Educating the United States mass public and troops on Islamic culture.
  2. Reduction in the uses of forces from the United States Army.
  3. Increase inclusion of Afghani officers to work alongside the United States Army to minimize miscommunication.
  4. Allow for an equal distribution of power and authority in leading Afghanistan.
  5. Reduction in biases media.

Analysis:

 

Before the United States troop’s deployment into Afghanistan, they were exposed only to about an hour long Powerpoint presentation about Islam (Whitelock 1). The troops’ lack of understanding of a society that is driven by religion led to cultural ignorance and miscommunication. These ignorance and miscommunication between the people of two different societies led to social tension and aggression. The U.S. troops’ mishandling of the Quran is just one example of its cultural ignorance. The Koran is a holy text that has to be handled with care. It cannot even allow to touches the bare ground. The interpreters’ lack of cultural competence of Islam is significant. It demonstrated that the United States troops’ lack of trust or even superiority over Afghanistan officers or personnel. Furthermore, these erroneous actions by the people involved, U.S. troops, military police officers, and interpreters, could have been avoided if they were educated in Islamic culture or performed joint-task force with the Afghanistan officers or personnel. U.S. troops’ and personnel’s lack of willingness to learn and understand Islamic culture for daily interactions demonstrate their close-mindedness and feeling of superiority.  It is importance for leaders to be culturally competence of others.

 

Work Cited

 

Bumiller, Elisabeth. “U.S. Military Disciplines 9 Over Video and Koran Burning”. The   New York Times. 27 Aug., 2012. Web 21 April 2013.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/world/asia/us-military-disciplines-9-for-koran-burning-and-incendiary-video.html?_r=1&>

 

Northouse, Peter G. “Leadership: Theory and Practice”. SAGE Publication, Inc. 6th Edition. United States of America.  2013. Printed.  

 

Whitlock, Craig. “U.S. troops tried to burn 500 copies of Koran, investigation says”. The Washington Post. 27 Aug., 2012. Web. 21 April 2013. < http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-08-27/world/35491373_1_afghan-soldiers-koran-burnings-criminal-charges>

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Reflection Questions


 

What did you learn about yourself through this assignment?

 

 

From the case study assignment, I have learned many aspects of leadership that seem to be common sense but not practice too often. Cultural competence is an important factor of leadership. It is more importance now than ever as the countries expand their interaction with one another and the world becoming globalized. I learned that I need to educate myself on many cultures to help my future interactions with people from different countries and cultures.

 

 

How does it change your perspective on leadership?

 

 

The case study has shown me that to be a good leader, you must prepare your followers as much as possible. You want your followers to be over prepared rather than under practice. The United States Army’s mistake of not providing significant amount of training and educating their troops on the Islamic cultures and other necessary tools to interact with natives cause tensions and aggressive actions by both the native and the United States troops. Each follower is an agent of the leader; if the follower lack leadership, then the leader lacks leadership.  To be a great leader, one needs to not only lead well but make sure that the followers are able to follow well. The actions of any one follower are reflective on the leadership of the leader. The United States government’s relentlessness to work with the Afghani government set an example for their followers, the troops and army officers, to not work with Afghani officers and military personnel. 

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.