Soccer Dad

Soccer dad on target; mark garlasco off target

Marc Garlasco the self credentialed "expert" that news organizations trot out to convict Israel of killing a family last week may not have the requisite knowledge to draw the conclusions he does. I asked yesterday

So Wilson does report rather well on the Israeli denials, but he does bring an expert witness with "seven years with U.S. military intelligence" to dispute the Israeli claims. Why someone with intelligence experience is uniquely qualified to judge the results of an explosion is puzzling. Wouldn't seven years of experience with ordnance be a proper qualification?

Jerry Gordon at Israpundit knows someone who worked with Garlasco (h/t Deja Vu)

I knew that my buddy had been involved with doing targeting in the preparation for the bigh push at the outbreak of hostilities in Iraq. I had looked at Marc Garlasco’s resume on line at Mother Jones radio and noted his Irag related stint.

As it turned out my MILINT buddy worked with Garlasco on pre-war Iraq targeting effort at DIA.

He noted that Marc had bolted when the war began and the rest became history as Garlasco became the purported senior military analyst for Human Rights Watch with his housing destruction reports in Gaza and such.

My buddy pointed out to me that Garlasco is not technically qualified to point to a depression in the sand on Gaza beach and state uncategorically that it was caused by an Israeli 155 MM round. Why? he had no scientific training required to do bomb damage assessment-typically a USAF intel function.

HonestReporting ties Garlasco to another dishonest Human Rights Watch report.

Earlier today, I noticed through Sitemeter that someone from Human Rights Watch has visited my earlier posting on Garlasco and visited other bloggers too. So if anyone visits tomorrow from HRW, I'd be very interested in hearing exactly what Mr. Garlasco's credentials are.

UPDATE: While this doesn't relate directly to Garlasco (though he's referred to) Charles Krauthammer's "Who's to blame for the grief on the beach?" and asks the important question

An expert at a local chapter of a human rights group disputes the Israeli claims. Okay. Let's concede for the sake of argument that the question of whether it was an errant Israeli shell remains unresolved. But the obvious question not being asked is this: Who is to blame if Palestinians are setting up rocket launchers to attack Israel -- and placing them 400 yards from a beach crowded with Palestinian families on the Muslim Sabbath?

UPDATE II: via Buzztracker
Boker Tov Boulder builds nicely on Krauthammer's diagnosis:

This is an excellent commentary, worth reading in full, but I would take it a step further. I would say that the Palestinians prefer victimhood because it works for them.

Right on the Right also has a nice observation

The Hamas terrorists and the media sloganeers spin this ON PURPOSE to instigate further acts of terror.

Technorati tags: Marc Garlasco, Human Rights Watch, Media Bias, Israel, Gaza.