Human Rights Watch suspended its military analyst, Marc Garlasco. The NY Times writes:
On Monday night, the group shifted course and suspended him with pay, “pending an investigation,” said Carroll Bogert, the group’s associate director.
“We have questions about whether we have learned everything we need to know,” she said.
It's about time. HRW's has taken a beating ever since Mere Rhetoric exposed that Garlasco is an avid collector of Nazi memorabilia, to the point of writing a 400+ page book on the topic and posting hundreds of comments on web forums under the name Flak88.
HRW's mess couldn't come at a worse time for the UN and Richard Goldstone. In the coming days, the South African judge is due to release his report on IDF conduct during the Gaza war. Human Rights Watch pushed very hard for the UN investigation, and Goldstone was a member of HRW's board of directors. NGO-Monitor summed up the conflict of interest:
Human Rights Watch played a central role in the formation of the Mission, and in promoting the anti-Israel bias. The appointment of Goldstone, who was a member of HRW’s board and made numerous statements in support of HRW’s campaigns on Israel, reinforced this link. A number of HRW “research reports” were published during this period in order to provide more ammunition to Goldstone and his colleagues.
Stay tuned . . .
