Marc Garlasco
Encyclopedia
Marc Garlasco is an American former senior military expert for Human Rights Watch
(HRW) who specialized in battle
damage assessment, military operations, and interrogations for the Emergencies Division. Having served for seven years at the Pentagon
as a senior intelligence analyst, Garlasco left in 2003 and joined HRW where he investigated human rights
issues in a number of different conflicts zones. The author of a World War II
German anti-aircraft medals reference book, Garlasco was suspended by HRW with pay, “pending an investigation", on September 14, 2009 after it was revealed that he had collected Nazi memorabilia. While Garlasco initially downplayed the controversy, indicating he collected German and US World War II memorabilia because of family history and his interest in military history, he resigned from HRW in February 2010.
.
Garlasco has a B.A. in Government from St. John’s University 1988 — 1992 and a M.A. in International Relations from the Elliott School of International Affairs
at the George Washington University
(1992–1995) He lives in Pleasantville, New York.
working in the Pentagon; he survived the 9/11 attack on the building. He was Chief of High-value targeting in The Pentagon
during the Second Gulf War
where he led the effort to track and target Saddam Hussein
. Garlasco was a member of the Operation Desert Fox
(Iraq) Battle Damage Assessment
team in 1998, led a Pentagon Battle Damage Assessment team to Kosovo
in 1999 and recommended several thousand aimpoints on targets during military operations in Iraq and Serbia
. Later that year Garlasco debriefed Iraqi nationals to gather intelligence about Saddam Hussein. He described it as "contingency planning for a war that was probably never going to be fought." He is credited as having devised the "deck of cards" used during Operation Iraqi Freedom to help troops in the field identify Iraqi leaders. He also participated in over 50 interrogations as a subject matter expert. In total, Garlasco served for seven years in the Pentagon
.
In 2003, Garlasco was responsible for dropping two, laser-guided, 500-kilogram bombs on a house in the Tuwaisi, neighborhood of Basra
, Iraq, that he believed to contain Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid
, also known as Chemical Ali, the man responsible for launching poison gas attacks on Kurds in Iraq beginning in 1988. Watching the attack via satellite form a room in the Pentagon, Garlasco threw his arms in the air and shouted: "I just blew up Chemical Ali!" However, Chemical Ali was not in the house; 17 other people were killed instead. Garlasco left his Pentagon job in 2003 two weeks after the failed attack to take a position as senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch.
Garlasco explained the calculus of civilian deaths in high-value targeting to the television news program 60 Minutes
this way, "Our number was 30. So, for example, Saddam Hussein. If you're gonna kill up to 29 people in a strike against Saddam Hussein, that's not a problem. But once you hit that number 30, we actually had to go to either President Bush, or Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld." Garlasco told the interviewer that prior to the invasion of Iraq, he personally recommended 50 high-value targets for air strikes, but, according to Garlasco, none of the targets on his list was actually killed. Rather, "a couple of hundred civilians at least" were killed in strikes he recommended. Garlasco defended the efforts made by the American military to minimize civilian casualties, "I don't think people really appreciate the gymnastics that the U.S. military goes through in order to make sure that they're not killing civilians". He responded to the question "If so much care is being taken why are so many civilians getting killed?" by stating "Because the Taliban are violating international law, and because the U.S. just doesn't have enough troops on the ground. You have the Taliban shielding in people's homes. And you have this small number of troops on the ground. And sometimes the only thing they can do is drop bombs.”
as a senior military analyst; his task was to document laws-of-war violations and other atrocities committed during significant conflicts around the world. In an interview he gave for the Washington Post Garlasco described the transition from targeter to human rights advocate; "I had been a part of it, so it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. It really dawned on me that these aren't just nameless, faceless targets. This is a place where people are going to feel ramifications for a long time."
In December 2003, Garlasco co-authored the report 'Off Target - The Conduct of the War and Civilian Casualties in Iraq' after carrying out field work with two other HRW staff to investigate the effect of the air war
, ground war, and the immediate post-combat environment on civilians after the fall of Baghdad to U.S. led Coalition forces in the Iraq War. Garlasco and colleagues focused on the main fighting areas in the Tigris
and Euphrates
river valleys where civilian deaths had been reported, visiting ten cities in total. The report focused on the identification and investigation of potential violations of international humanitarian law by both Coalition and Iraqi forces together with the identification of patterns of conflict which may have resulted in avoidable civilian casualties.
Garlasco and his co-author stated that Iraqi forces had committed various violations of international humanitarian law which may have resulted in significant civilian casualties and claimed that the widespread use of cluster munitions in populated areas by Coalition forces killed or wounded more than 1,000 civilians.
In October 2004, Garlasco co-authored the report 'Razing Rafah: Mass Home Demolitions in the Gaza Strip' after carrying out research with two other HRW staff in the Gaza Strip
, Israel
, and Egypt
. The report documented what it described as a "pattern of illegal demolitions" by the IDF
in Rafah
, a refugee camp and city at the southern end of the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt where sixteen thousand people lost their homes after the Israeli government approved a plan to expand the de facto "buffer zone"
in May 2004. Garlasco and colleagues examined the background to and effects of the demolitions, the security situation in Rafah, the IDF’s main stated rationales for the demolitions, responding to and preventing attacks on its forces and the suppression of weapons smuggling through tunnels from Egypt, and concluded that in most cases the demolitions were "carried out in the absence of military necessity" in violation of international law.
Garlasco has made it a personal objective to prevent the use of cluster munitions. He co-authored the 2006 Human Rights Watch
report condemning Israel
’s use of such weapons in Lebanon
and a report in 2008 documenting how civilians living in South Ossetia
suffered the use of cluster munitions by both the Russia
n and Georgian
armies. Colin Kahl, a professor of security studies at Georgetown University, said that Garlasco "knows more about airstrikes than anyone in the world who isn't in the military currently", adding that "when Marc says stuff is messed up, the military has to take it seriously. It's not some wing nut in a human rights group out to get the military".
According to Haaretz
, Garlasco worked in the Pentagon for seven years and "was known over the last years of his career for his harsh condemnation of Israel".
John H. Richardson, a writer at Esquire
, writes that Garlasco's work on torture scandals in Iraq resulted in testimony from American soldiers that led directly to John McCain
's anti-torture amendment
. Richardson also writes that Garlasco was one of the first foreigners to cross the border into Georgia during its war with Russia, and that during the Gaza War Garlasco lived in an apartment in the middle of the war zone and spent weeks visiting hospitals and bomb sites.
Garlasco has attracted some criticism for his reporting, with the Ottawa Citizen
, for example, suggesting in an editorial that he "has made a career of painting Israel as a criminal state".
Garlasco appeared as an expert in the documentary film No End in Sight
, which examined in detail some of the key decisions made by the US military and the Pentagon in the early days after the invasion of Iraq. He was also featured in a 60 Minutes
story on US military targeting practices that aired October 28, 2007.
Emma Daly confirmed in March 2010 that Garlasco resigned from Human Rights Watch in February 2010, and offered no elaboration.
quoted blogger Omri Ceren
claiming that Garlasco is "obsessed with the color and pageantry of Nazism, has published a detailed 430-page book on Nazi war paraphernalia, and participates in forums for Nazi souvenir collectors". Other newspapers such as The Guardian
and Haaretz
covered the controversy in the following days.
The Guardian
reported on what it described as "mounting internet attacks on Garlasco". Pro-Israeli bloggers had questioned the appropriateness of Garlasco's hobby and discovered one blogpost in which Garlasco wrote, "The leather SS jacket
makes my blood go cold it is so COOL!"
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's policy director commented that Human Rights Watch's employment of "a man who trades and collects Nazi memorabilia" as its senior military expert is a "new low".
He subsequently apologized, writing on Huffington Post, "I deeply regret causing pain and offense with a handful of juvenile and tasteless postings I made on two websites that study Second World War artifacts". Garlasco added, "I've never hidden my hobby, because there's nothing shameful in it, however weird it might seem to those who aren't fascinated by military history". He also wrote that the allegations of Nazi sympathies were "defamatory nonsense, spread maliciously by people with an interest in trying to undermine Human Rights Watch's reporting," and that "I work to expose war crimes and the Nazis were the worst war criminals of all time". He added, "[p]recisely because it's so obvious that the Nazis were evil, I never realized that other people, including friends and colleagues, might wonder why I care about these things". He went on to say that "I told my daughters, as I wrote in my book, that "the war was horrible and cruel, that Germany lost and for that we should be thankful".
HRW Communications Director Emma Daly at first responded to the charge by saying, "Marc Garlasco is not pro-Nazi. These allegations are monstrous. He does not delve into Nazi memorabilia. Garlasco is a student of military history and he has an interest in military history". HRW later issued an official statement that the accusation against Garlasco "is demonstrably false and fits into a campaign to deflect attention from Human Rights Watch's rigorous and detailed reporting on violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by the Israeli government," adding that Garlasco "has never held or expressed Nazi or anti-Semitic views". HRW associate director Carroll Bogert accused The Guardian of "repeat[ing] defamatory nonsense unworthy of [the] newspaper," adding that "[t]he allegations of pro-Nazi sympathies are part of a larger campaign to smear non-governmental organisations which criticise the Israel Defence Forces' conduct of the Gaza offensive". Iain Levine, the watchdog's programme director responded by saying that "The Israeli government is trying to eliminate the space for legitimate criticism of the conduct of the IDF, and this is the latest salvo in that campaign".
In what has been described by Ed Pilkington of The Guardian as an "abrupt change of tact" (sic) for Human Rights Watch, Garlasco was "suspended with pay" from HRW pending an investigation. According to Bogert, "[W]e have questions as to whether we've learned everything we need to know". Regarding the suspension, HRW has indicated "This is not a disciplinary measure. Human Rights Watch stands behind Garlasco's research and analysis".
NGO Monitor
, an Israeli NGO that monitors human rights organisations for perceived political bias, described Garlasco's hobby as "problematic" and "insensitive". John Richardson of Esquire magazine wrote that because Garlasco has criticized Israel for alleged human-rights violations, "NGO Monitor has decided to try to destroy Marc Garlasco — not to argue with him or dispute his statistics, but to destroy him personally."
Antony Lerman
, former director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research
, wrote that Human Rights Watch failed to see Garlasco's hobby "could be used to discredit his role as author of highly critical reports of Israel's military conduct in Gaza". Lerman further wrote that Garlasco working "on reports critical of Hamas and Hezbollah was ignored", concluding that "as another excuse to attack HRW, and deflect attention from its reports' findings, the Garlasco affair was a gift".
Yaron Ezrahi
, a Professor of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said he did not believe that Mr. Garlasco’s interest in memorabilia could support allegations of "premeditated bias," though he indicated it may hurt Human Rights Watch’s credibility, and that the revelations had "armed the right-wing fanatics" who try to "demonize" anybody who questions the effects of Israeli military operations. A group of ten Israeli rights groups also protested that the Israeli government has been attempting to "instill fear and silence or alarm vital organizations" that were engaging in free public discourse.
In the Christian Science Monitor, Robert Marquand claimed Garlasco's critics were using him "to distract from or obfuscate findings that war crimes and crimes against humanity may have taken place in Gaza" and that a U.N. report by Richard Goldstone
showed illegal white phosphorus use consistent with Garlasco's first hand testimony.
In Nazi scandal hits human rights group, Katie Engelhart in Macleans magazine reported that "For HRW, the timing of the exposé could not be worse. The group has thrown its weight behind the UN-sponsored Goldstone report, which accuses both Israel and the Palestinians of committing war crimes in the Gaza strip earlier this year. Garlasco’s actions will surely lead many to question the group’s credibility".
According to the New York Times, HRW Middle East advisory committee member Helena Cobban
questioned on her blog whether Garlasco’s military collecting activities were "something an employer like Human Rights Watch ought to be worried about? After consideration, I say Yes". NGO Monitor head Gerald M. Steinberg
, a Professor of Political Science at Bar Ilan University, argued that Human Rights Watch's response to the matter was "too little, too late". Cobban says in suspending Garlasco Human Rights Watch is now "in a better position to take part in the public discussion in this country on what our government should be doing with regard to the Goldstone report".
, in an op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen
, wrote that while HRW had promised an investigation, it has not offered any information about it to the public, or addressed the issue of the credibility of Garlasco's reports on Israeli human rights violations.
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
(HRW) who specialized in battle
Battle
Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...
damage assessment, military operations, and interrogations for the Emergencies Division. Having served for seven years at the Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
as a senior intelligence analyst, Garlasco left in 2003 and joined HRW where he investigated human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
issues in a number of different conflicts zones. The author of a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
German anti-aircraft medals reference book, Garlasco was suspended by HRW with pay, “pending an investigation", on September 14, 2009 after it was revealed that he had collected Nazi memorabilia. While Garlasco initially downplayed the controversy, indicating he collected German and US World War II memorabilia because of family history and his interest in military history, he resigned from HRW in February 2010.
Background
Garlasco attended Archbishop Molloy High SchoolArchbishop Molloy High School
Archbishop Molloy High School is a co-educational, college preparatory, Catholic school for grades 9-12, located on in the Briarwood section of Queens in New York City, thirty minutes east of Manhattan. Molloy currently has an endowment of about $6,000,000 . The school's current principal is Br...
.
Garlasco has a B.A. in Government from St. John’s University 1988 — 1992 and a M.A. in International Relations from the Elliott School of International Affairs
Elliott School of International Affairs
The Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University is a professional school in international relations. It is located in the heart of Washington, D.C...
at the George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
(1992–1995) He lives in Pleasantville, New York.
Career
Garlasco was the senior military analyst in Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) Emergencies Division. He specialized in battle damage assessment, military operations, and interrogations.The Pentagon
He worked with a defense contractor before being hired as an intelligence professional at the Defense Intelligence AgencyDefense Intelligence Agency
The Defense Intelligence Agency is a member of the Intelligence Community of the United States, and is the central producer and manager of military intelligence for the United States Department of Defense, employing over 16,500 U.S. military and civilian employees worldwide...
working in the Pentagon; he survived the 9/11 attack on the building. He was Chief of High-value targeting in The Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
during the Second Gulf War
Second Gulf War
Different armed conflicts in the Persian Gulf region have been called the Second Gulf War:*Gulf War , a war between Iraq and a coalition of nations led by the United States...
where he led the effort to track and target Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
. Garlasco was a member of the Operation Desert Fox
Operation Desert Fox
The December 1998 bombing of Iraq was a major four-day bombing campaign on Iraqi targets from December 16–19, 1998 by the United States and United Kingdom...
(Iraq) Battle Damage Assessment
Bomb damage assessment
Bomb, or battle damage assessment, often referred to as BDA, is the practice of assessing damage inflicted on a target by an air campaign. It is part of the larger discipline of combat assessment...
team in 1998, led a Pentagon Battle Damage Assessment team to Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
in 1999 and recommended several thousand aimpoints on targets during military operations in Iraq and Serbia
1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was NATO's military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The strikes lasted from March 24, 1999 to June 10, 1999...
. Later that year Garlasco debriefed Iraqi nationals to gather intelligence about Saddam Hussein. He described it as "contingency planning for a war that was probably never going to be fought." He is credited as having devised the "deck of cards" used during Operation Iraqi Freedom to help troops in the field identify Iraqi leaders. He also participated in over 50 interrogations as a subject matter expert. In total, Garlasco served for seven years in the Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
.
In 2003, Garlasco was responsible for dropping two, laser-guided, 500-kilogram bombs on a house in the Tuwaisi, neighborhood of Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
, Iraq, that he believed to contain Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid
Ali Hassan al-Majid
Ali Hassan Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti , , was a Ba'athist Iraqi Defense Minister, Interior Minister, military commander and chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service...
, also known as Chemical Ali, the man responsible for launching poison gas attacks on Kurds in Iraq beginning in 1988. Watching the attack via satellite form a room in the Pentagon, Garlasco threw his arms in the air and shouted: "I just blew up Chemical Ali!" However, Chemical Ali was not in the house; 17 other people were killed instead. Garlasco left his Pentagon job in 2003 two weeks after the failed attack to take a position as senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch.
Garlasco explained the calculus of civilian deaths in high-value targeting to the television news program 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
this way, "Our number was 30. So, for example, Saddam Hussein. If you're gonna kill up to 29 people in a strike against Saddam Hussein, that's not a problem. But once you hit that number 30, we actually had to go to either President Bush, or Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld." Garlasco told the interviewer that prior to the invasion of Iraq, he personally recommended 50 high-value targets for air strikes, but, according to Garlasco, none of the targets on his list was actually killed. Rather, "a couple of hundred civilians at least" were killed in strikes he recommended. Garlasco defended the efforts made by the American military to minimize civilian casualties, "I don't think people really appreciate the gymnastics that the U.S. military goes through in order to make sure that they're not killing civilians". He responded to the question "If so much care is being taken why are so many civilians getting killed?" by stating "Because the Taliban are violating international law, and because the U.S. just doesn't have enough troops on the ground. You have the Taliban shielding in people's homes. And you have this small number of troops on the ground. And sometimes the only thing they can do is drop bombs.”
Human Rights Watch
After leaving the Pentagon, Garlasco joined Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
as a senior military analyst; his task was to document laws-of-war violations and other atrocities committed during significant conflicts around the world. In an interview he gave for the Washington Post Garlasco described the transition from targeter to human rights advocate; "I had been a part of it, so it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. It really dawned on me that these aren't just nameless, faceless targets. This is a place where people are going to feel ramifications for a long time."
In December 2003, Garlasco co-authored the report 'Off Target - The Conduct of the War and Civilian Casualties in Iraq' after carrying out field work with two other HRW staff to investigate the effect of the air war
Air War
"Air War" is a single by Crystal Castles. It was released on 17 December 2007 on London UK's Trouble Records as 7" vinyl. An earlier version of the song was released in July 2006 as the B-Side to "Alice Practice" on London UK's Merok Records. The lyrics are from the James Joyce book Ulysses...
, ground war, and the immediate post-combat environment on civilians after the fall of Baghdad to U.S. led Coalition forces in the Iraq War. Garlasco and colleagues focused on the main fighting areas in the Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
and Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
river valleys where civilian deaths had been reported, visiting ten cities in total. The report focused on the identification and investigation of potential violations of international humanitarian law by both Coalition and Iraqi forces together with the identification of patterns of conflict which may have resulted in avoidable civilian casualties.
Garlasco and his co-author stated that Iraqi forces had committed various violations of international humanitarian law which may have resulted in significant civilian casualties and claimed that the widespread use of cluster munitions in populated areas by Coalition forces killed or wounded more than 1,000 civilians.
In October 2004, Garlasco co-authored the report 'Razing Rafah: Mass Home Demolitions in the Gaza Strip' after carrying out research with two other HRW staff in the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. The report documented what it described as a "pattern of illegal demolitions" by the IDF
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
in Rafah
Rafah
Rafah , also known as Rafiah, is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. Located south of Gaza, Rafah's population of 71,003 is overwhelmingly made up of Palestinian refugees. Rafah camp and Tall as-Sultan form separate localities. Rafah is the district capital of the Rafah Governorate...
, a refugee camp and city at the southern end of the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt where sixteen thousand people lost their homes after the Israeli government approved a plan to expand the de facto "buffer zone"
Philadelphi Route
The Philadelphi Route refers to a narrow strip of land, 14 km in length, situated along the border between Gaza Strip and Egypt. Under the provisions of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty of 1979, the buffer zone was controlled and patrolled by Israeli forces. After the 1995 Oslo Accords,...
in May 2004. Garlasco and colleagues examined the background to and effects of the demolitions, the security situation in Rafah, the IDF’s main stated rationales for the demolitions, responding to and preventing attacks on its forces and the suppression of weapons smuggling through tunnels from Egypt, and concluded that in most cases the demolitions were "carried out in the absence of military necessity" in violation of international law.
Garlasco has made it a personal objective to prevent the use of cluster munitions. He co-authored the 2006 Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
report condemning Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
’s use of such weapons in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
and a report in 2008 documenting how civilians living in South Ossetia
South Ossetia
South Ossetia or Tskhinvali Region is a disputed region and partly recognized state in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic....
suffered the use of cluster munitions by both the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n and Georgian
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
armies. Colin Kahl, a professor of security studies at Georgetown University, said that Garlasco "knows more about airstrikes than anyone in the world who isn't in the military currently", adding that "when Marc says stuff is messed up, the military has to take it seriously. It's not some wing nut in a human rights group out to get the military".
According to Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
, Garlasco worked in the Pentagon for seven years and "was known over the last years of his career for his harsh condemnation of Israel".
John H. Richardson, a writer at Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, writes that Garlasco's work on torture scandals in Iraq resulted in testimony from American soldiers that led directly to John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
's anti-torture amendment
Detainee Treatment Act
The Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 is an Act of the United States Congress that prohibits inhumane treatment of prisoners, including prisoners at Guantanamo Bay; requires military interrogations to be performed according to the U.S...
. Richardson also writes that Garlasco was one of the first foreigners to cross the border into Georgia during its war with Russia, and that during the Gaza War Garlasco lived in an apartment in the middle of the war zone and spent weeks visiting hospitals and bomb sites.
Garlasco has attracted some criticism for his reporting, with the Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa Citizen
The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...
, for example, suggesting in an editorial that he "has made a career of painting Israel as a criminal state".
Garlasco appeared as an expert in the documentary film No End in Sight
No End in Sight
No End in Sight is a 2007 documentary film about the American occupation of Iraq. The film marks the directorial debut of Academy Award winning documentary film producer Charles H. Ferguson. The film premiered January 22, 2007 at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The film opened in limited release...
, which examined in detail some of the key decisions made by the US military and the Pentagon in the early days after the invasion of Iraq. He was also featured in a 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
story on US military targeting practices that aired October 28, 2007.
Emma Daly confirmed in March 2010 that Garlasco resigned from Human Rights Watch in February 2010, and offered no elaboration.
Suspension over Nazi memorabilia
On September 14, 2009 Garlasco was suspended with pay after a controversy arose regarding an allegation that he collects Nazi memorabilia. Criticism had started to appear posted by what the Guardian called Pro-Israeli bloggers had questioned the appropriateness of Garlasco's hobby while Garlasco said allegations of Nazi sympathies were "defamatory nonsense, spread maliciously by people with an interest in trying to undermine Human Rights Watch's reporting". Garlasco has stated his hobby of collecting German and American World War memorabilia from the Second World War is because of his family history and his interest in military history. He also stated "I deeply regret causing pain and offense with a handful of juvenile and tasteless postings" on two websites. HRW investigated the matter and indicated "this is not a disciplinary measure. Human Rights Watch stands behind Garlasco's research and analysis".Initial controversy
On September 9, 2009 The Jerusalem PostThe Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily English-language broadsheet newspaper, founded on December 1, 1932 by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. The daily readership numbers do not approach those of the major Hebrew newspapers....
quoted blogger Omri Ceren
Omri Ceren
Omri Ceren is a political blogger.Ceren came to international attention when he uncovered that Human Rights Watch military analyst Marc Garlasco was an "avid collector" of Nazi memorabilia and published the information on his blog Mere Rhetoric....
claiming that Garlasco is "obsessed with the color and pageantry of Nazism, has published a detailed 430-page book on Nazi war paraphernalia, and participates in forums for Nazi souvenir collectors". Other newspapers such as The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
covered the controversy in the following days.
The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
reported on what it described as "mounting internet attacks on Garlasco". Pro-Israeli bloggers had questioned the appropriateness of Garlasco's hobby and discovered one blogpost in which Garlasco wrote, "The leather SS jacket
Uniforms and insignia of the Schutzstaffel
The uniforms and insignia of the Schutzstaffel were paramilitary ranks and uniforms used by the SS between 1925 and 1945 to differentiate that organization from the regular German armed forces, the German state, and the Nazi Party....
makes my blood go cold it is so COOL!"
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's policy director commented that Human Rights Watch's employment of "a man who trades and collects Nazi memorabilia" as its senior military expert is a "new low".
HRW response
Though Garlasco initially responded to the allegations under the pen name Flak88, writing "I would reply, but I don't want to encourage them... Anyway, I doubt if they read my book. More than anything else, it is related to my work."He subsequently apologized, writing on Huffington Post, "I deeply regret causing pain and offense with a handful of juvenile and tasteless postings I made on two websites that study Second World War artifacts". Garlasco added, "I've never hidden my hobby, because there's nothing shameful in it, however weird it might seem to those who aren't fascinated by military history". He also wrote that the allegations of Nazi sympathies were "defamatory nonsense, spread maliciously by people with an interest in trying to undermine Human Rights Watch's reporting," and that "I work to expose war crimes and the Nazis were the worst war criminals of all time". He added, "[p]recisely because it's so obvious that the Nazis were evil, I never realized that other people, including friends and colleagues, might wonder why I care about these things". He went on to say that "I told my daughters, as I wrote in my book, that "the war was horrible and cruel, that Germany lost and for that we should be thankful".
HRW Communications Director Emma Daly at first responded to the charge by saying, "Marc Garlasco is not pro-Nazi. These allegations are monstrous. He does not delve into Nazi memorabilia. Garlasco is a student of military history and he has an interest in military history". HRW later issued an official statement that the accusation against Garlasco "is demonstrably false and fits into a campaign to deflect attention from Human Rights Watch's rigorous and detailed reporting on violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by the Israeli government," adding that Garlasco "has never held or expressed Nazi or anti-Semitic views". HRW associate director Carroll Bogert accused The Guardian of "repeat[ing] defamatory nonsense unworthy of [the] newspaper," adding that "[t]he allegations of pro-Nazi sympathies are part of a larger campaign to smear non-governmental organisations which criticise the Israel Defence Forces' conduct of the Gaza offensive". Iain Levine, the watchdog's programme director responded by saying that "The Israeli government is trying to eliminate the space for legitimate criticism of the conduct of the IDF, and this is the latest salvo in that campaign".
In what has been described by Ed Pilkington of The Guardian as an "abrupt change of tact" (sic) for Human Rights Watch, Garlasco was "suspended with pay" from HRW pending an investigation. According to Bogert, "[W]e have questions as to whether we've learned everything we need to know". Regarding the suspension, HRW has indicated "This is not a disciplinary measure. Human Rights Watch stands behind Garlasco's research and analysis".
Other responses
Critics of Human Rights Watch have suggested that Garlasco's enthusiasm for Nazi-era badges and uniforms goes beyond historical interest and raises questions Nazi sympathy or anti-Semitism.NGO Monitor
NGO Monitor
NGO Monitor is a non-governmental organization based in Jerusalem, Israel whose stated aim is to generate and distribute critical analysis and reports on the output of the international NGO community for the benefit of government policy makers, journalists, philanthropic organizations and the...
, an Israeli NGO that monitors human rights organisations for perceived political bias, described Garlasco's hobby as "problematic" and "insensitive". John Richardson of Esquire magazine wrote that because Garlasco has criticized Israel for alleged human-rights violations, "NGO Monitor has decided to try to destroy Marc Garlasco — not to argue with him or dispute his statistics, but to destroy him personally."
Antony Lerman
Antony Lerman
Antony Lerman is a British writer who specializes in the study of antisemitism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, multiculturalism, and the place of religion in society. From 2006 to early 2009, he was Director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, a think tank on issues affecting Jewish...
, former director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research
Institute for Jewish Policy Research
The Institute for Jewish Policy Research , founded as the Institute of Jewish Affairs, is a London-based research institute and think tank. It specializes in contemporary Jewish affairs, with a particular focus on Jews in Britain and across Europe...
, wrote that Human Rights Watch failed to see Garlasco's hobby "could be used to discredit his role as author of highly critical reports of Israel's military conduct in Gaza". Lerman further wrote that Garlasco working "on reports critical of Hamas and Hezbollah was ignored", concluding that "as another excuse to attack HRW, and deflect attention from its reports' findings, the Garlasco affair was a gift".
Yaron Ezrahi
Yaron Ezrahi
Yaron Ezrahi , is an Israeli political scientist. He is Professor of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
, a Professor of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said he did not believe that Mr. Garlasco’s interest in memorabilia could support allegations of "premeditated bias," though he indicated it may hurt Human Rights Watch’s credibility, and that the revelations had "armed the right-wing fanatics" who try to "demonize" anybody who questions the effects of Israeli military operations. A group of ten Israeli rights groups also protested that the Israeli government has been attempting to "instill fear and silence or alarm vital organizations" that were engaging in free public discourse.
In the Christian Science Monitor, Robert Marquand claimed Garlasco's critics were using him "to distract from or obfuscate findings that war crimes and crimes against humanity may have taken place in Gaza" and that a U.N. report by Richard Goldstone
Richard Goldstone
Richard Joseph Goldstone is a South African former judge. After working for 17 years as a commercial lawyer, he was appointed by the South African government to serve on the Transvaal Supreme Court from 1980 to 1989 and the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa from 1990 to 1994...
showed illegal white phosphorus use consistent with Garlasco's first hand testimony.
In Nazi scandal hits human rights group, Katie Engelhart in Macleans magazine reported that "For HRW, the timing of the exposé could not be worse. The group has thrown its weight behind the UN-sponsored Goldstone report, which accuses both Israel and the Palestinians of committing war crimes in the Gaza strip earlier this year. Garlasco’s actions will surely lead many to question the group’s credibility".
According to the New York Times, HRW Middle East advisory committee member Helena Cobban
Helena Cobban
Helena Cobban is a British-American writer and researcher on international relations, with special interests in the Middle East, the international system, and transitional justice. In March 2010, she founded a new book-publishing company, Just World Publishing, LLC...
questioned on her blog whether Garlasco’s military collecting activities were "something an employer like Human Rights Watch ought to be worried about? After consideration, I say Yes". NGO Monitor head Gerald M. Steinberg
Gerald M. Steinberg
Gerald M. Steinberg is an Israeli academic and political scientist.-Biography:Gerald M. Steinberg obtained his doctorate in government from Cornell University, in 1981. M.A. Government Department, Cornell University, 1978. M.Sc. Physics Department, University of California, San Diego, 1975. B.A...
, a Professor of Political Science at Bar Ilan University, argued that Human Rights Watch's response to the matter was "too little, too late". Cobban says in suspending Garlasco Human Rights Watch is now "in a better position to take part in the public discussion in this country on what our government should be doing with regard to the Goldstone report".
Aftermath
Emma Daly confirmed in March 2010 that Garlasco resigned from Human Rights Watch in February 2010, and offered no elaboration. A reporter from the Times Online attempted to contact Garlasco, who wouldn't comment. A friend of Garlasco's indicated he had "in effect" been fired, but had entered into a confidentiality agreement with HRW in which he would be paid for the remainder of his contract if he kept silent. Gerald M. SteinbergGerald M. Steinberg
Gerald M. Steinberg is an Israeli academic and political scientist.-Biography:Gerald M. Steinberg obtained his doctorate in government from Cornell University, in 1981. M.A. Government Department, Cornell University, 1978. M.Sc. Physics Department, University of California, San Diego, 1975. B.A...
, in an op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa Citizen
The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...
, wrote that while HRW had promised an investigation, it has not offered any information about it to the public, or addressed the issue of the credibility of Garlasco's reports on Israeli human rights violations.
Human Rights Watch reports co-authored by Marc Garlasco
- Troops in Contact: Airstrikes and Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan Human Rights Watch, 2008, ISBN 1564323625
External links
- In the Field with Marc Garlasco, Human Rights Watch (2008)
- Assessing the Human Cost of Air Strikes in Iraq, NPR (April 8, 2008)