Syria "Expert" Cited by Kerry & McCain fired for lying

[99 pewtercoupe]

Elizabeth O'Bagy, Syria Researcher Cited By Kerry And McCain In Hearings, Fired For Ph.D Claim

Wonder what all else she lied about????

[Aerovette]

Originally Posted by 99 pewtercoupe

Elizabeth O'Bagy, Syria Researcher Cited By Kerry And McCain In Hearings, Fired For Ph.D Claim

Wonder what all else she lied about????

It turns out she actually did NOT spend the night in a Holiday Inn either.

[Doug28450]

Originally Posted by 99 pewtercoupe

Elizabeth O'Bagy, Syria Researcher Cited By Kerry And McCain In Hearings, Fired For Ph.D Claim

Wonder what all else she lied about????

She lied about having a PhD. She had done the course work and submitted her dissertation. She had not defended her dissertation yet so the PhD had not yet been awarded. When she applied for a job, her resume stated that she had the PhD.

[VITE1]

She was also working in some capacity for the free Syrian movement.

[mrvette]

Originally Posted by Doug28450

She lied about having a PhD. She had done the course work and submitted her dissertation. She had not defended her dissertation yet so the PhD had not yet been awarded. When she applied for a job, her resume stated that she had the PhD.

Been going on forever in .gov circles.....

for instance, my old Brother In Law, went to college at Univ/Indy/Bloomington/School of Music....woopie doo, on schedule to get his PHD, did all the course work, but someone stole all his research papers and so he never did a dissertation....YET, he was hired on as the head of recorded sound division of Library of CoNNgress......a job he held for some 27 years.....without his PHD....he even made it onto the COSMOS Club....woopie doo....

and guess what,?? several months later after a 6 YEAR vacancy in the job, he made Chief of the Music Division.....about a month before he died of cancer....smoking related lung crap...O2 bottle, mask, the works....in '85.....

so not having a degree means little in the Fed.Gov.....all you have to have is a degree in LIBERALISM.....

[Loco Vette]

So we have a president considering military action against someone due to concern over WMD based on intelligence information that may or may not be accurate.

Where have I heard this one before?

[99 pewtercoupe]

Originally Posted by VITE1

She was also working in some capacity for the free Syrian movement.

BINGO! Hardly an impartial analyst

[Fasglas]

McCain & Kerry didn't give a flip as to her "qualifications" just so long as what she said furthered their agenda.

Really... 26 years old with a PhD and "extensive experience in the region"?

[99 pewtercoupe]

It keeps getting better!


WASHINGTON – Elizabeth O’Bagy, a pro-Syrian opposition analyst whose credibility has come under fire, might have even more explaining to do – as court documents show she once vouched for a rebel group whose website displayed extremist and anti-American images.
Among the pictures was one showing a burning U.S. Capitol.
O’Bagy was fired earlier this week by the Institute for the Study of War for allegedly lying about her academic credentials. Her writings had been used by U.S. officials to bolster their case for military action against the Assad regime.
O’Bagy discussed the rebel group in question in a June 19, 2013 signed affidavit filed in the case of American Eric Harroun, who was indicted for fighting alongside the terror group al-Nusra in Syria.
O’Bagy’s signed declaration, which included a breakdown of rebel groups and their varying degrees of affiliation to Al Qaeda-linked terrorists, was used by Harroun’s defense to argue that the former Army medic had actually fought with a splinter group and not a terrorist one – a group tied to the one O’Bagy described.
In the document, O’Bagy said she had reviewed the apparent Facebook page for the Al Aqsa Islamic Brigades, and found no signs of jihadist leanings.
“I have also reviewed a Facebook site … that purports to be associated with the al Aqsa (Islamic) brigades,” she stated in the affidavit. “The facebook site does not appear to be particularly jihadist in orientation, and posts videos associated with groups that are all affiliated with the Free Syrian Army.”
Yet newly uncovered images from the group’s Facebook page depict otherwise – including one that shows the U.S. Capitol building engulfed in flames, and armed fighters marching in the foreground. Other images show what appears to be a black-and-white flag, which is viewed by intelligence analysts as a sign of a group’s Islamist bent (although O’Bagy wrote that many fighters not affiliated with jihadist groups use a similar flag).
The Facebook postings, which had been up for weeks, were recently taken down following an NBC News investigative report about the group.
O’Bagy said in the court document that there are several groups that go by the name of Al Aqsa. But the Facebook site she referenced in the affidavit is the same one that contained the extremist images – although it’s possible she never saw those pictures.
O’Bagy, a Georgetown University alumna, was put in the media spotlight following an op-ed piece she wrote in The Wall Street Journal which was cited by Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in their case for a military strike in Syria.
Specifically, Kerry read a quote from the op-ed in which she wrote that Islamic extremist factions are not "spearheading the fight against the Syrian government," but rather that the struggle is being led by "moderate opposition forces."
Since then, O’Bagy has appeared on multiple news outlets, including Fox News, CNN and NPR, to discuss Syria. She has weighed in on complicated ethnic and religious challenges in the region.
Her credibility and objectivity came into question over her work with a Syrian opposition group called the Syrian Emergency Task Force.
The Journal, after the op-ed was first published, included a clarification noting she is "affiliated" with that group, and that the organization subcontracts with the U.S. and British governments "to provide aid to the Syrian opposition."
O'Bagy, in an interview last week on Fox News, claimed she is not an employee of the task force, and is not a lobbyist. She said she works with them as an independent contractor, and her contract fee comes through U.S. government contracts.
She also defended herself on Twitter, claiming she is "not paid to advocate" the view that the U.S. should get involved in Syria.
The D.C.-based scholar was fired this week from the Institute for the Study of War for allegedly lying about her education credentials.The institute posted a statement on its website claiming she misled the organization about having a Ph.D.She reportedly claims she had defended her dissertation, but was waiting for the degree.
Calls to O’Bagy from FoxNews.com on Thursday were not returned.


Read more: Embattled Syria analyst vouched for rebel group that depicted burning US Capitol | Fox News

[Doug28450]

Originally Posted by 99 pewtercoupe

It keeps getting better!

and better....

Pro-opposition Syria analyst admits faking Ph.D. story | Fox News

Pro-opposition Syria analyst admits faking Ph.D. story
Published September 17, 2013

Embattled Syria analyst Elizabeth O'Bagy now admits she was never enrolled in a Ph.D. program despite claims to the contrary as she rose -- and quickly fell -- as a prominent scholar whose writings were used to make the case for military intervention in Syria.

O'Bagy also has resigned from a Washington-based, pro-Syrian opposition group in the wake of the controversy.

The resignation and the admission, made in a statement to The Daily Beast, caps a remarkable turn of events for O'Bagy, who a little more than a week ago was traveling in rarified circles, as a frequently quoted analyst whose work was also cited on Capitol Hill. Both Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., touted her analysis that the Syrian opposition was mostly moderate, as they pushed for a strike on the Assad regime.

Yet O'Bagy was fired last week from the Institute for the Study of War after the think tank alleged she lied about her education credentials. The institute claimed O'Bagy did not have a Ph.D. degree from Georgetown University as she had claimed.

O'Bagy reportedly countered that she had defended her dissertation, and was simply waiting for the university to confer the degree.

But in a statement to The Daily Beast, O'Bagy reportedly admitted she was never enrolled in that program. She apparently applied to a joint master's/Ph.D. program, but was not accepted. She was only in the master's program.

"I would like to deeply apologize to every person with whom I have worked, who has read and depended upon my research, and to the general public," O'Bagy said in a statement. "While I have made many mistakes and showed extremely poor judgment, I most particularly regret my public misrepresentation of my educational status and not immediately disclosing that I had not been awarded a doctorate in May, 2013."

She went on to say that the damage she caused was "irreparable" and that she has resigned from the Syrian Emergency Task Force. She said she nevertheless stands by her findings from her work inside Syria.

The task force also released a written statement on Monday announcing it had cut ties with O'Bagy following an "internal investigation."

"Although Syrian Emergency Task Force deeply regrets the poor judgment exercised by Ms. O'Bagy in misstating her credentials, we stand by her research on the realities from on the ground in Syria," the group said. "The mission of Syrian Emergency Task Force is to educate the American public and policymakers on the Syrian crisis and to provide humanitarian assistance to Syrians in need."

During discussions about military action in Syria last month, O'Bagy wrote an influential piece in The Wall Street Journal that was used to push for punishing the Assad regime for using chemical weapons.

The Aug. 30 piece disputed claims that the opposition is heavily populated by extremist factions. "Contrary to many media accounts, the war in Syria is not being waged entirely, or even predominantly, by dangerous Islamists and al Qaeda die-hards," she wrote, while calling for a "comprehensive strategy" to destroy Assad's military capability and boost the opposition.

But questions were soon raised about O'Bagy's connection with the Syrian Emergency Task Force. The Journal, after the op-ed was first published, included a clarification noting she is "affiliated" with that group, and that the organization subcontracts with the U.S. and British governments "to provide aid to the Syrian opposition."

O'Bagy also appeared several times to discuss Syria on Fox News, CNN, NPR and other media outlets.

O'Bagy later claimed on Twitter that she never "tried to hide" her affiliation with the task force. Indeed, an article she co-wrote on Syria that was published by The Atlantic in June did include a line acknowledging her ties with the Syrian Emergency Task Force.

The misrepresentations about her academic credentials, though, appear to be what led to her fall-out with both the Institute for the Study of War and the task force.