Human Rights by Day, Secret Nazi (collector) at Night

Human Rights Watch, has suspended its senior military analyst following revelations that he is an avid collector of Nazi memorabilia.

HRW had initially thrown its full support behind the analyst, Marc Garlasco, when the news of his hobby came out last week. On Monday night, the group shifted course and suspended him with pay, “pending an investigation,” said Carroll Bogert, the group’s associate director.

Mr. Garlasco declined to be interviewed. But on Friday he posted an essay with theHuffington Post in which he called the Nazis “the worst war criminals of all time,” explaining that he was simply a “military geek” whose interest grew out of his own family’s history.

My first reaction is why should someone's personal collection of wartime memorabilia be anyone's business or under any scrutiny? I can see where some folks, especially his employer, might worry that Marc is a secret Nazi. The largest question that needs to be asked is whether he favors Palestinians over Israel at his job?

Mr. Garlasco, it has been revealed, is not only a collector, he has written a book, more than 400 pages long, about Nazi-era medals. His hobby, inspired he said by a German grandfather conscripted into Hitler’s army, was revealed on a pro-Israel blog, Mere Rhetoric Mere Rhetoric, which quoted his enthusiastic postings on collector sites under the pseudonym “Flak88” — including, “That is so cool! The leather SS jacket makes my blood go cold it is so COOL!”

Hrmmm. My guess is that while Marc's case may be just a terrible misunderstanding - it's proof that personal privacy is gone. Especially anything you do on the internet... speaking of... I think I'll be changing my name to Senior CappyTan.

Oh, and Marc - you are in the lead spot for Blasphemes Hypocrite of the Week. So, good luck with that.