The Inside Story Of How A Fake PhD Hijacked The Syria Debate

[Tx4obama]

The Inside Story Of How A Fake PhD Hijacked The Syria Debate

Dr. Elizabeth O’Bagy, Syria expert, made quite an impression on Senator John McCain. During Senate hearings, the former Presidential candidate quoted at length from her recent Wall Street Journal op-ed painting a rosy picture of a mostly secular, pro-Western anti-Assad insurgency.

“John, do you agree with Dr. O’Bagy’s assessment of the opposition?,” the Senator asked the Secretary of State John Kerry. “I agree with most of that,” he replied.

Except Dr. O’Bagy wasn’t actually a doctor. Her PhD was fabricated, a lie she told her employers at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), an influential neoconservative-aligned think tank, to get hired. Ironically, it ended up being the lie that got her fired Wednesday. This postmodern reenactment of the Icarus myth also provides a bizarrely informative window into the way that Washington’s foreign policy sausage gets made.

O’Bagy got her start last year, when she interned for ISW’s Iraq portfolio while completing a Master’s in Arab Studies at Georgetown University. Kimberly Kagan, the President of ISW, was so impressed that she hired O’Bagy to start even before the young analyst finished her degree. “Her insights and her (Arabic) linguistic skills were tremendous,” Kagan said.

-snip-

Full article here: http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/09/11/2601151/exclusive-mccain-and-kerry-cited-syria-analyst-with-false-credentials/?preview=true

[Autumn]

1. Holy shit.

rec

[Cooley Hurd]

2. Curveball Part Deux

...on edit: And, whattyaknow... another fucking Kagan is involved:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberly_Kagan

At Yale, Kagan met her husband Frederick Kagan, who is an American resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), son of Donald Kagan, a well-known historian and brother of Robert Kagan, another well-known writer and publicist. Robert Kagan's wife is Victoria Nuland, spokesperson for the United States Department of State.

[grasswire]

26. so this fake PhD is an in-law of the spokesperson for Dept of State.

This is crazy stuff.

CRAZY.

[muriel_volestrangler]

27. No, the fake PhD's *boss* is the in-law (ex-boss, now)

She and her husband are well known neocons, as are his brother and father Robert and Donald. Robert was a director of the Project for the New American Century, and Donald and Fred both signed the "Rebuilding America's Defenses" mainfesto. Kimblery Kagan runs the "Institute for the Study of War", where O'Bagy worked.

[idwiyo]

3. The article in Daily Caller about her is very interesting.

The link to it is embedded in the article sited in OP.

http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/05/woman-informing-kerry-mccains-opinions-on-syria-also-an-advocate-for-syrian-rebels/?print=1

[Cooley Hurd]

5. Fuck Daily Caller - any other links?

We don't do "daily caller" hackery on DU.

[idwiyo]

7. Did you actually read the article in OP? If you did, you would have noticed the part below:

The Daily Caller, which first broke the Journal’s omission on September 5th, did a follow-up on September 9th in which O’Bagy claimed to have written her dissertation.

and the links to DC are embedded in that quote:

Woman informing Kerry, McCain’s opinions on Syria also an advocate for Syrian rebels
Posted By Charles C. Johnson On 5:35 PM 09/05/2013 In Politics
http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/05/woman-informing-kerry-mccains-opinions-on-syria-also-an-advocate-for-syrian-rebels/?print=1

Who funds Syrian rebel advocate O’Bagy and the Syrian Emergency Task Force? You do
Posted By Charles C. Johnson On 8:02 AM 09/09/2013 In World
http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/09/who-funds-syrian-rebel-advocate-obagy-and-the-syrian-emergency-task-force-you-do/?print=1

[Cooley Hurd]

8. I will never click on a daily caller link - and no one else should

How about a link that doesn't put money in Tucker-Fucking-Carson's pocket???

[idwiyo]

11. I would suggest you don't tell me what I should and shouldn't click on. They have info I want to see

that's enough for me. YMMV.

[Cooley Hurd]

12. Good luck with that, Skippy.

"Fox news has info I want to see - who CARES if it's garbage?"

[idwiyo]

14. You are welcome to relish your ignorance.

[Cooley Hurd]

15. And you are welcome to feed yours.

Just don't post links to it.

[idwiyo]

16. Ironic, coming from you. You might want to check the info before you so casually dismiss it.

But that would be too much to ask. Much easier to go for knee-jerk reaction.

[Cooley Hurd]

17. What's ironic, Skippy?

Do you understand irony? Here's a thought... post your links in an Original Post (we call them OP's here) and see how well it goes. Please do. Pretty-please do so!!!!

[idwiyo]

18. Ironic that you remain totally ignorant about content of both articles. Never mind you didn't bother

to read the OP.

As to posting them in OP, I don't see why it would be needed. Those links are relevant in the context of the OP above, and that's why they are cited in my post.
The info provided by both links embedded in the OP is correct, there is no denying it. That's all that matters to me. YMMV.

[Cooley Hurd]

19. Well, then PLEASE post your Daily Caller links in an OP.

Please????

[idwiyo]

20. Why? If you want to see them in OP, you are welcome to do so. I don't see a reason to duplicate

already existing posts.

Or are you mad because Kerry was stupid enough to try a Curveball and it backfired so badly it gave DC a perfect chance to use it against him?

[Cooley Hurd]

21. You're defending the veracity of your links...

Put them into an OP! Let's let DU judge, Skippy!

[idwiyo]

22. Why don't you alert right now? Or did you try and fail? The links embedded in the article cited in

OP contain correct info. There is no denying it. You are sore because it was DC who broke the story (according to the article cited in OP)? Are you sore because I refuse to share your ignorance? Or are you sore because your alert failed? Whichever the reason, those links are relevant to the discussion of the OP and they contain correct info.

[Cooley Hurd]

23. I didn't alert. Hovered over the link but didn't click...

...so, where is that OP, Skippy?

[idwiyo]

24. Please, do alert if you think those links shouldn't be posted here. I stand by my statement they are

relevant to the discussion of the article cited in OP, as that's where they come from. That's why they are posted here, The info in those links is correct.

Please, do keep relishing your ignorance, it's amusing and entertaining.

[bananas]

28. Think Progress should be banned - it links to Daily Caller!

[Doctor_J]

4. Our government is completely broken

[factsarenotfair]

6. Kimberly Kagan, wife of FRED Kagan, interviewed recently on Charlie Rose...treated like a

credible, unbiased expert on the Middle East. UNBELIEVABLE.

[Cooley Hurd]

9. VERY unbelievable since Rose is usually good about such things.

[Uncle Joe]

10. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Tx4obama.

[xfundy]

13. It really is ironic.

They hired her to lie then fired her for doing it.

[AverageJoe90]

25. If anything at all, this looks like this *could* have been a setup......

quite possibly to discredit not only the secular Syrian opposition(which does in fact, remain substantial!), but perhaps the Obama administration as well.
Knowing what BushCo and company have pulled in recent years, it wouldn't surprise me if this woman was being used as a pawn of some kind.

In any case, let us hope that this doesn't distract from the facts of the matter: yes, there is a substantial amount of secular opposition to Al-Assad. And yes, they can be built up, and in fact, the Admin. and the honest factions of the military have been trying to do just that. But what of BushCo? Be wary, folks, as this story very well could be used in the same general manner that I have described here. *shakes my head*.