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What Goes Through HRW's Marc Garlasco's Mind When Investigating Israel? [Updated]

In an interview with 60 Minutes, Marc E. Garlasco, who has been a sharp critic of Israel, did a turnaround and said the following:

"I don't think people really appreciate the gymnastics that the Israeli military goes through in order to make sure that they're not killing civilians," Garlasco points out.

"If so much care is being taken why are so many civilians getting killed?" Pelley asks.

"Because the Hamas are violating international law," says Garlasco, "and because the Israelis just doesn't have enough troops on the ground. You have the Hamas 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."

Wow!
Of course, Garlasco said no such thing--at least not about Israel. Instead he said the exact same thing about the US and the Taliban:

"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," Garlasco points out.

"If so much care is being taken why are so many civilians getting killed?" Pelley asks.

"Because the Taliban are violating international law," says Garlasco, "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."

Odd that the criteria that Garlasco so easily applies to the US, he refuses to use what talking about Israel.

And it's not as if Human Rights Watch as a whole sees it as its job to end war. On the contrary, HRW clearly understands that casualties in war are unavoidable, but innocents must be protected to the degree possible under the circumstances. Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director of Human Rights Watch, was quoted in The Washington Post that:

The objective is not to end war, it's to change the way militaries wage war.

Garlasco, too, when accused of committing war crimes for the part he played while working in the Pentagon in 2003, when he recommended a target that resulted in the killing of civilians--responded that civilian casualties are unavoidable:

I did work in the Pentagon recommending targets for the Iraq aerial war in 2003. But I didn't try to kill civilians; quite the opposite. I focused on military targets and tried my very best every day to minimize civilian casualties -- as required by the Geneva Conventions. But I have to live with the fact that, even so, many civilians died in those attacks.

If Ayers studied the laws of war he would know that they don't say civilians can never be killed in conflict; they require military forces to take constant care to spare civilians and civilian property, and never to place military advantage above excessive civilian damage. [emphasis added]

Garlasco knows what the Geneva Conventions say--and knows better than to apply them blindly when he is looking into the aftermath of an Israeli attack on Palestinian terrorists.

Whatever Garlasco may say about Israel's ability to protect civilians while eliminating terrorists, one thing is clear--Israel's record is better than Garlasco's. According to that 60 Minutes segment:

Garlasco says, before the invasion of Iraq, he recommended 50 air strikes aimed at high-value targets -- Iraqi officials.

But he says none of the targets on the list were actually killed. Instead, he says, "a couple of hundred civilians at least" were killed.

I am not saying that even one of those civilian casualties is his responsibility, but I do believe that Garlasco's failures raises the question of just what is going through his mind when he is investigating Israel.

One thing is for certain, Garlasco does not have in mind staying with Human Rights Watch indefinitely. In September 2007, Garlasco--a collector of Nazi paraphernalia--wrote on the German Combat Awards Forum:

What complicates things is I have a public life too. I have been in film, TV, and there is talk of politics.

Marc Garlasco is a man with a lot on his mind.

UPDATE: And politics seems to still be one of them:


Do other HRW personnel do the circuit as well--other than in Saudi Arabia?

[Hat tip: Mere Rhetoric]

by Daled Amos Posted by daledamos at September 11, 2009 12:58 AM