46. Marc Garlasco - War through the eyes of a Pentagon Chief of High Value Targeting

2022-02-21

My guest today is Marc Garlasco, who began his career as the Chief of High Value Targeting at the Pentagon between 1997 and 2003 where he led targeting teams during operations Iraqi Freedom, Desert Fox, and Allied Force. Marc later worked in senior roles at Human Rights Watch, the United Nations, and the Centre for Naval Analyses. Throughout his time, he has worked in Afghanistan, Gaza, Georgia, Iraq, Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, and other conflict zones. He is a co-author of the ICRC report on Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas,...

Throughout his time, he has worked in Afghanistan, Gaza, Georgia, Iraq, Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, and other conflict zones. He is a co-author of the ICRC report on Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas, and a co-host of the excellent The Civilian Protection Podcast that tells the story of those harmed by war, but whose voices are rarely heard.

Marc is currently the military advisor at PAX, the largest peace organisation in the Netherlands and works to protect civilians against acts of war, to end armed violence and to build inclusive peace. Some of the topics we covered are:

Marc’s journey into targeting
Developing a picture of Iraq
9/11 and (absence of) link to Iraq
Deliberate vs dynamic targeting
The failed targeting of Saddam
Why targeting fails
Incentives vs intelligence
Impact of ‘humane’ war
How a Collateral Damage Estimate (CDE) is conducted
Reconciling the fact that not all lives are worth the same
Use of drones and accuracy of battle damage estimates
Changing policy to reduce civilian harm
Building bridges between NGOs and the military
Impact of our wars on soldiers fighting them

Marc and I discussed The Civilian Protection Podcast, of which he is a co-host. You can access all episodes of this excellent project here.

Marc also mentioned the upcoming release of a US Department of Defence Memorandum, to be signed by the Secretary of Defence, that will direct the development of a comprehensive plan to mitigate and respond to civilian harm. That memo has now been released and is worth reading. You can find it here.

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