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, 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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