Greg Mitchell: 'Expert' on Syria Cited by Kerry Paid by Rebels
@GregMitch: Amazing: WSJ has now added note to that key piece cited by Kerry and McCain, confirming writer paid by Syria rebels! http://t.co/cZJbkvjzlf
Friday, September 6, 2013
'Expert' on Syria Cited by Kerry Paid by Rebels
UPDATED WSJ now acknowledges. "Ms. O'Bagy is affiliated with the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a nonprofit operating as a 501(c)(3) pending IRS approval that subcontracts with the U.S. and British governments to provide aid to the Syrian opposition."
Earlier: I noted earlier that the author of a WSJ article last week claiming--against most evidence--that the rebels in Syria are actually overwhelmingly moderate and growing in numbers was paid by a hawkish neo-con think-tank. Still, her report was cited as gospel by Kerry, McCain and many others. Now we learn that she is also paid by the Syria rebels themselves. "In addition to her work for the Institute for the Study of War, O’Bagy is also the political director for the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), a group that advocates within the United States for Syria’s rebels — a fact that the Journal did not disclose in O’Bagy’s piece."
Greg Mitchell at 10:47 AM
= new reply since forum marked as read
I was referring to another poster who questioned the source. My point was I heartily agree with you 
Google him.
something that would be found out to be paid for by the terrorists.
Bizarre.
look at his investment portfolio. 
of the ENTITLED...sort of comes to my mind.
I didn't see your thread when I posted this in another thread. Here's some more information. I'm just pasting what I had before.
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In the lies Kerry's telling about how moderate these thugs are, he cites neoconservative Elizabeth O'Bagy, from the war-loving Institute for the Study of War as if she has any credibility. I guess that was horrible enough because he neglected to mention she's a senior member of the "Syrian Emergency Task Force" and a lobbyist to boot.
On Monday May 27, 2013 Senator John McCain traveled into Syria for a period of several hours to discuss the current situation in Syria and U.S. Syria Policy with General Salim Idris, leader of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army, and 18 commanders of FSA battalions from all of Syria. While meeting with Senator McCain, General Idris and FSA commanders asked that the United States increase its aid to the Free Syrian Army in the form of heavy weapons, a no-fly zone, and air strikes on Hezbollah. Syrian Emergency Task Force Field Director, Razan Shalab Al-Sham, Executive Director, Mouaz Moustafa, and Political Director Elizabeth O'Bagy organized and facilitated Senator McCain's trip into the country.
http://syriantaskforce.org/index.php/about-us/setf-blog/86-setf-mccain-trip
A 26 year old paid lobbyist who was
In December, O’Bagy opposed the Obama administration’s attempts to designate al-Nusra — a powerful Syrian rebel group — as a terror organization because of its ties to al-Qaida.
“I’m not saying they aren’t a terrorist group. But given the circumstances and given their cooperation with the opposition as a whole, designating them now would be disastrous,” O’Bagy said to McClatchy newspapers in December 2012.
In April 2013, al-Nusra pledged loyalty to al-Qaida.
O’Bagy told TheDC that she had opposed the terrorist designation because she feared it would damage the rebellion against Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship.
“The point that I was trying to make in terms of al-Nusra being designated a terrorist organization was that at the time they had been embraced to a large degree by certain aspects of the population and they were very much seen as fighting for the cause,” she said. “I knew that designating them as a terrorist organization would have a very radicalizing impact on the ground. I wasn’t sure if that trend could be reversed. I was terrified that this could be an irreversible process of radicalization.”
O’Bagy told TheDC that she was wrong to consider al-Nusra anything but a terror group.
“I can admit when I’m wrong. In many ways al-Nusra has revealed its true face and many see it as a foreign influence and an outside group… Designating them a terrorist group has helped empower more moderate groups,” she said.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/05/woman-informing-kerry-mccains-opinions-on-syria-also-an-advocate-for-syrian-rebels/
A Lobbyist, a major advocate for the rebels!
Foreign Policy reported that
the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), which boasts extensive contacts with rebel commanders, spent months lobbying Congress, the State Department and the White House for everything from small arms to anti-tank and and anti-aircraft weapons to body armor to advanced communications equipment for the rebels.
...
Elizabeth O'Bagy, political director at SETF, doubted whether the administration's new pledge amounted to a significant policy change. "It's not enough," she told The Cable. "Small arms and ammunition really only get you so far against airplanes. And I wonder how much of this is simply an announcement of what they've already been doing on the ground," referring to pre-existing administration efforts to encourage Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to ship weapons into the country with assistance from the U.S.
We're in CRAZYLAND. A 26 year-old paid lobbyist is being quoted as an authority and is able to stop the State Department from classifying these thugs as terrorists even though, they're designated as terrorists in Iraq (see Terrorist Designations of the al-Nusrah Front as an Alias for al-Qa'ida in Iraq. Only in Crazyland do these thugs transform from Al-Qaeda terrorists to angels once the step over the border.
And Assad was laughing when Gaddafi told them all, at an Arab League meeting, to watch out because if the head of a sovereign state could be hanged like Hussein was, they were next. Assad was laughing.
This is all madness. It is illegal, per international law, to invade a sovereign state without UNSC approval. No matter how strongly a 26 year old paid lobbyist twists facts for you. I ranted, sorry. Anyway, Assad was laughing along with the rest of them.
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Wonder who McCain wants to hang . . .
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Ya think?
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That's supposed to be understood as 
Most should know my opinions by now . . .
thought it was obvious,
no snark intended.
CC
