Watching Human Rights Watch - Open Letter to Kenneth Roth,

[bemildred]

Executive Director Human Rights Watch

On December 2, 2005 the New York Times published an article with the title “Rights Group Lists 26 It Says U.S. Is Holding in Secret Abroad”. The article quotes Marc Garlasco, Senior Military Analyst at Human Rights Watch, saying:

"One thing I want to make clear is we are talking about some really bad guys," Mr. Garlasco said. "These are criminals who need to be brought to justice. One of our main problems with the U.S. is that justice is not being served by having these people held incognito.”

Mr. Garlasco said, "Our concern is that if illegal methods such as torture are being used against them," trials may "either be impossible or questionable under international standards of jurisprudence." (1)

On December 4, 2005 I wrote to Mr. Garlasco, asking:

1) did the New York Times quote you correctly?
2) if not, will you ask for a formal correction to the NYT?
3) if yes, don’t you think your words are quite bizarre for a HRW’s representative? Did we get to the point that even Human Rights Watch doesn’t care for the presumption of innocence? Is that really HRW’s concern about torture?

In my e-mail I also wrote:

I had the opportunity to interview HRW’s Reed Brody and Hanny Megally just a few years ago. Also because of those interviews I have great esteem and respect for the work of your organization. I fear that your words – as reported by the New York Times’ article – will damage HRW’s image and the trust many people have for its work. (2)

Since I haven’t received any answer, I have now decided to write you an open letter to reiterate my questions and also to ask you if someone who “recommended thousands of aimpoints on hundreds of targets during operations in Iraq and Serbia also participated in over 50 interrogations as a subject matter expert” fits a senior position at Human Rights Watch.

Mr. Garlasco’s biography reads:

Cats Dream