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Marc Garlasco (born September 4, 1970) is an author and senior military expert for Human Rights Watch.

Background

Marc Garlasco was born in Manhattan on September 4, 1970. He was raised in Queens where he attended St. Leo's grammar school and Archbishop Molloy High School. Marc 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) PHD in international relations 2007 — 2010 (expected) . He lives in Pleasantville, New York.

Career

Marc Garlasco is the senior military analyst in Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) Emergencies Division. He specializes in battle damage assessment, military operations, and interrogations,Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page). He is also Board Member Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC)

Before working for HRW he worked with a defense contractor before being hired as an intelligence professional at the Defense Intelligence Agency. 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 also on the Operation Desert Fox (Iraq) Battle Damage Assessment team in 1998, and led a Pentagon Battle Damage Assessment team to Kosovo in 1999. 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!" Garlasco was mistaken. The airstrike killed 17 persons; Chemical Ali was not in the house.

According to the Israeli newspaper 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."

The Israeli newspaper Maariv has strongly criticized the accuracy of Garlasco's reports on Israel military activity.

Garlasco appeared as an expert in the motion picture No End in Sight and was featured in a 60 Minutes story that aired October 28, 2007.

World War II German medals

Garlasco is "an expert on Nazi war paraphernalia (who) has written a 430-page book on their use of Flak badges." According to the Israeli newspaper, Maariv, this story was first broken by blogger Omri Ceren, Maariv claims that Gerlasco is "a collector of Nazi memorabilia," that he has published a book on the the subject of Nazi military insignia, and that he posts frequently on the web pages of collectors of Nazi memorabilia. NGO Monitor made similar allegations and accused Garlasco of having an "anti-Israel ideological background".

The Communications Director at HRW, Emma Daly, responded that the story is not accurate, that Garlasco's interest is in German and American Second World War artifacts and not in Nazi memorabilia. Garlasco has written a book on World War II German medals, Garlasco responded to the allegations under the pename Flak88, "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." HRW issued a statement in defense of Garlasco, stating that, "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."

Commenting on allegations concerning Garlasco in the media, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's policy director said on September 9 2009 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 issued a rebuttal to the allegations which stated that the "accusation 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." noting that Garlasco, "has never held or expressed Nazi or anti-Semitic views."

Garlasco uses the identity Flak88 on many internet sites. The Flak 88mm was an anti-aircraft gun used by the German military during the Second World War, however "88" is also a known symbol used by Neo-Nazis to represent "Heil Hitler", The choice of "88" and its Neo-Nazi associations has been used in some blogs as an argument to demonstrate Garlasco anti-Israeli position.

Impact

In a response to the Garlasco and Sarah Leah Whitson incidents, the Knesset will consider restricting the donations made by foreign governments to NGO's in Israel.

Books

• The Flak Badges of the Luftwaffe and Heer, 2008, B&D Publishing LLC

References

1. ^ White, Josh (2008-02-13). "The Man on Both Sides of Air War Debate". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
2. http://www.linkedin.com/pub/marc-garlasco/4/698/a08
3. The Pentagon Official Who Came in From the Cold, Susanne Koelbl , 4/03/2009
4. http://www.linkedin.com/pub/marc-garlasco/4/698/a08
5. ^ Marc Garlasco profile at guardian.co.uk
6. The Pentagon Official Who Came in From the Cold, Susanne Koelbl , 4/03/2009
7. Former HRW analyst said to be avid collector OF Nazi souvenirs , Haaretz, Sept. 10, 2009
8. Maariv, Sept. 9, 2009, Hebrew google translation "Can of Worms discovered Human Rights Watch," is here for non-Hebrew speakers, a more accurate translation by Israel Matzav is here quote taken form Israel Matzav translation. another translation .
9. Former HRW analyst said to be avid collector OF Nazi souvenirs , Haaretz, Sept. 10, 2009
10. ^ 'HRW expert collects Nazi memorabilia', JPost, September 09 2009
11. Ceren, Omri. (September 8, 2009). "Marc Garlasco - Is HRW's Anti-Israel Investigator A Nazi-Obsessed Collector?" http://www.mererhetoric.com/archives/11275875.html
12. Maariv, Sept. 9, 2009, Hebrew google translation "Can of Worms discovered Human Rights Watch," is here for non-Hebrew speakers, a more accurate translation by Israel Matzav is here quote taken form Israel Matzav translation. another translation
13. Maariv, Sept. 9, 2009, Hebrew google translation "Can of Worms discovered Human Rights Watch," is here for non-Hebrew speakers, a more accurate translation by Israel Matzav is here quote taken form Israel Matzav translation. another translation
14. http://www.amazon.com/Flak-Badges-Luftwaffe-Heer/dp/0979796946/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252469348&sr=8-1
15. Maariv, Sept. 9, 2009, Hebrew google translation "Can of Worms discovered Human Rights Watch," is here for non-Hebrew speakers, a more accurate translation by Israel Matzav is here quote taken from Israel Matzav translation. another translation
16. Maariv, Sept. 9, 2009, Hebrew google translation "Can of Worms discovered Human Rights Watch," is here for non-Hebrew speakers, a more accurate translation by Israel Matzav is here quote taken from Israel Matzav translation. another translation
17. 'HRW expert collects Nazi memorabilia', Jerusalsem Post, Herb Keinon, July 9, 2009,
18. Maariv, Sept. 9, 2009, Hebrew google translation "Can of Worms discovered Human Rights Watch," is here for non-Hebrew speakers, a more accurate translation by Israel Matzav is here quote taken form Israel Matzav translation. another translation

External links

• Profile of Marc Garlasco
• Human Rights Watch
• Picture of Marc Garlasco

• Living people
• George Washington University alumni
• Human Rights Watch
• American writers