228 Hum Nat (2011) 22:225–246 attention (Sponsel 2009; Terence Turner 2009). Tierney’s book appeared to represent a rich new opportunity for drawing attention to Chagnon’s alleged misdeeds. Upon receiving prepublication copies of the book, Turner and Sponsel decided to co- author their memo advising the AAA leadership of an impending scandal. The Turner-Sponsel memo—a truly extraordinary piece of work—began by stating that, “In its scale, ramifications, and sheer criminality and corruption, [the scandal] is unparalleled in the history of Anthropology.” In florid prose, Turner and Sponsel then uncritically related Tierney’s most sensational claims, including that the geneticist James Neel had “in all probability deliberately caused” an outbreak of measles by using a contra-indicated vaccine among the Yanomamö to test an “extreme,” “fascistic” eugenic theory. Chagnon was accused, in the Turner-Sponsel memo, of supporting Neel’s efforts by doing research that “formed integral parts of this massive, and massively fatal, human experiment.” Additional charges included “cooking and re-cooking” data, intentionally starting wars, aiding “sinister politicians” and illegal gold miners, and purposefully withholding medical care while subjects died (Turner and Sponsel 2000). In retrospect, this memo should have been met by all with serious skepticism. But as I’ve learned from my research into this and other controversies (e.g., Dreger 2008), the most unbelievable claims seem like they must be believed (cp. Howell 2001). Because how could you make this stuff up? Turner and Sponsel claimed to me to be surprised over the distribution of their memo to the international press (Sponsel 2009; Terence Turner 2009), but they had not chosen to mark their memo as confidential. Even if they had, would that have made their uncritical—seemingly enthusiastic—relaying of outrageous claims to the leaders of American anthropology appropriate? I think not. Regardless, the leak of their handiwork served to do what they wanted done: it forced the AAA to finally act on Chagnon (Terence Turner 2009). Responding to screaming headlines—like the one in The Guardian reading “Scientist ‘Killed Amazon Indians to Test Race Theory’” (Brown 2000)—the AAA held a jam-packed special session on the book at the next meeting, in November of 2000, in San Francisco. Tierney sat on the panel, as did the anthropologist Bill Irons in defense of Chagnon (his best friend); the historian Susan Lindee (a leading biographer of Neel); and others. Virtually everyone on the panel objected to Tierney’s misrepresentations—Lindee had concrete historical proof that Tierney was wrong about Neel’s actions—but Tierney found plenty of sympathizers in the audience (Lindee 2008). After the contentious meeting, the AAA’s President Louise Lamphere took the matter still further. The AAA formed the Peacock Commission, whose confidential report called for the formation of what became known as the El Dorado Task Force. Chaired by the past AAA President Jane Hill, the AAA’s Task Force was charged with inquiring into issues raised by Tierney’s book. The Task Force included Janet Chernela, Fernando Coronil, Trudy Turner, and Joe Watkins. Under pressure from Chagnon’s colleagues, a collaborator of Chagnon was added late to the Task Force (AAA 2002a). That was Raymond Hames. Hames resigned before it ended, claiming the problem of the appearance of conflict of interest (Hames 2002). The Task Force’s Report, formally faulting Chagnon on two counts, was accepted by the AAA board in May 2002 (AAA 2002b). (I address those two counts below.)