Posted on 09/12/2013 9:19:53 AM PDT by CMB_polarization
Excerpted from The Daily Caller: The Institute for the Study of War knew that controversial Syria analyst Elizabeth O’Bagy lacked a Ph.D. long before it fired her, according to the group’s own website.
The Institute announced Wednesday that it had fired O’Bagy, ostensibly for faking her PhD credentials. The termination came after a series of articles in The Daily Caller revealed O’Bagy’s connection with a pro-rebel lobbying group that was not disclosed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed by O’Bagy.
In fact, the neoconservative think tank knew she was in a joint Ph.D. program all along. The author bio from her March 2013 study of the Free Syrian Army says O’Bagy is “in a joint Master’s/PhD program in Arab Studies and Political Science at Georgetown University and is working on a dissertation on women’s militancy.”
The ISW’s board of directors is a sort of who’s who of neoconservatives pushing the Syrian war, including William Kristol of the Weekly Standard, Professor Dennis Showalter, General Jack Keane and management consultants Hal Hirsch, and Bill Roberti. ISW also contracts with Dubik Associates, an Arlington consultancy firm run by former Lieutenant General James Dubik.
O’Bagy’s advocacy for intervention had brought her remarkable clout at the age of 26. Her Wall Street Journal op-ed was recently cited by Secretary of State John Kerry, and she accompanied Sen. John McCain on a visit to Syria this spring.
But her close relationship with a front group for the Sunni rebels, many of whom are unreconstructed Islamists and al-Qaida affiliates, became a political issue after The Daily Caller uncovered her work with the Syrian Emergency Task Force.
The ISW, however, maintains that it fired O’Bagy not because of her ties to the Task Force but because of her putative misrepresentation of her credentials.
O’Bagy explained to TheDC last week that she had written her dissertation but had not defended it. When Sen. John McCain called her “doctor,” the ISW did not correct him. O’Bagy herself did not claim to have completed her Ph.D. study. “You can call me doctor, if you want,” O’Bagy told The Daily Caller in a recent interview. (Related: Who funds Syrian rebel advocate O’Bagy and the Syrian Emergency Task Force? You do)
The ISW, however, now claims that O’Bagy made false claims about her education status.
Any reason they fired her is alright with me.
I would love to join a “think tank.” What a life! All you do is sit around all day and think. I already do that while I’m sitting on the toilet...but I don’t get any money for that! :(
Can we fire McCain for reading it?
“... a (PhD) dissertation on women’s militancy.”
You gotta be effin’ kidding me. Where’s the duct tape; my head’s exploding.
Said she was waiting on her PHD.
And what a shame since you produce the same results.
Elizabeth O'Bagy's March 2013 report THE FREE SYRIAN ARMY @lizobagy @TheStudyofWar @TeamPraescient @PalantirTech
Note on the last page of the 51-page pdf file are references to Praescient Analytics and Palantir, both likely CIA initiated startups heavily involved in internet data mining technologies, and have been associated with Berico Technologies
I’m sure it is in the mail, dang USPS
Too bad she’s an evil liar. She’s kinda hot.
The Doctor is......OUT!
If our CIA operations are really this sloppy, maybe Putin is doing us a big favor by splashing around in the Med.
The Liberal American government won’t vet those they “think” are truthful. If she said she had a PhD then she had one and no need to check that out.
In the CIA, everyone has a trapdoor under them. That’s why background checks are so extensive. When you become inconvenient to have around any longer, *even if you did excellent work*, someone unhooks the latch and you fall. I’m sure Ms. O’Bagy understands this and is already on her next assignment under deep cover.
“Deep cover?” In bed with someone? LOL
The greater part of higher education today is producing an excellent array of proud, sophisticated liars and thieves. Stands to reason since the Ten Commandments for them are reduced to quaint, moral musings of ancient sheep herders.
I don’t think we ought to be rejoicing. Not that I care much about her particular fate, but the reason for firing is bogus. She made no claim that she had her sheepskin in hand. This all smells like a scapegoating—we should be suspicious.
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