Posted on 09/09/2013 5:29:04 AM PDT by markomalley
The Syrian Emergency Task Force the pro-rebel lobbying outfit that employs widely quoted intervention advocate Elizabeth OBagy as its political director, receives funding from the U.S. Department of State and related government contractors.
In an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller earlier last week, OBagy explained how she got paid. OBagy has been roundly condemned for working for a pro-Syrian lobbying group at the same time she was casting the Syrian rebels in a positive light. She works as an analyst at the neoconservative think tank, the Institute for the Study of War.
Most of the contracts that Ive been a part of through the Task Force have been through CSO, which is the Conflict and Stabilization Office[sic], OBagy told The Daily Caller. OBagy was likely referring to the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, a State Department-funded organization.
My salary comes from the Institute for the Study of War. I dont get a salary from working with the Task Force, OBagy said. I get paid contracting fees for very specific contracts.
How much she makes is completely dependent on the contract, says OBagy. Usually, they [the SETF] kind of write in a specific fee. So its not a percentage of the contract, but its like I get, just off the top of my head, like two thousand dollars to help implement this project. And then I just get that standard contracting fee. And I actually get a 1099.
State Department contracting firms like ARK [Access Resources Knowledge], Chemonics, Creative [Associates International]a number of the big contractors set up the contracts and pay the Syrian Emergency Task Force, OBagy told TheDC.
With each contract, OBagy made more money. This revelation raises serious questions about her incentives to support American involvement in Syria. Both Secretary of State John Kerry and Senator John McCain cited OBagys work in the push for military action but did not disclose her ties to the rebel groups.
When asked about the potential conflict of interest, OBagy said she was working for the Syrian people.
Frankly I mean the humanitarian crisis is just so horrific that I honestly could not spend significant amounts of time there without trying to contribute to the humanitarian situation in one way or another and thats just kind of me as a human being. I literally could not go there without trying to use my knowledge for the betterment of these various humanitarian aid programs, she told TheDC.
OBagy, whose Georgetown MA/PhD focuses on Arab womens issue, explained that the work had been helpful to her dissertation, which she has written but not yet defended.
While John McCain has called her doctor, she isnt one technically. You can call me doctor, if you want, OBagy said. She graduated Georgetown in 2013. The U.S. government has spent over a $1 billion on aid to the Syrian rebels, with nearly half going to the Department of State, which is used for institution building, and the other half going to USAID, which is used for diaspora community relations.
So we have Lurch , OBomber , and MeClaim, get infromation from O'Bagy for which we should go launch a war.
Somehow , I don't believe a 'doctoral candidate' qualifies as a 'Doctor' for purposes of international political surgery.
Also , I would question O'Bagy's objectivity considering her degree in "Arab Womens Issues" ;
however , Lurch , O'Bomber , and Me Claim's alledged objectivity and reliability are already known !!
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