Highlights:
Among other good questions, Cavuto challenged her on her affiliations with the rebels and exactly who is paying her.
"I don't represent the SETF. I'm not one of their employees, nor do I lobby on their behalf. I work with them as an independent contractor specifically to use my research and my knowledge base to help improve US govt contracts."
"I get a contract fee through these US govt contracts where I am written into the contract as an independent contractor."
Same old, same old with her, and I don't trust her analysis---never have---even though she has spent much time in Syria. She always marginalizes the jihadi rebels and magnifies her (and the CIA's) fave rebels---I am assuming FSA, but she did not mention them by name---as champions of a secular democracy.
From interview:
"...There is no underestimating the atrocities that have been committed on both sides, but I think it's important to really keep in mind that even while there may be some extremists, kinda foes running around the country, there is a large moderate force that is looking to not only kinda further US interests in the region and to work as an allied partner, but actually could serve as a reliable governing partner if built and given the kind of resources and capacity building it would need to serve as that partner."
[snip]
"Personally I would hope that our intelligence agencies have been closely following this, and I know that the CIA has been working on a long vetting process and are finally at the point where they have kinda picked a group or an organization that they feel comfortable working with."
I suspect she is going to be making the rounds on the talk-show circuit because her affiliations have finally been disclosed and her bias is being questioned.
We discussed the WSJ piece and her analysis from the Institute's website on the Live Syria Thread.
2011 ISW annual report, including contributors.
http://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/2011_AnnualReport_26MAR_email.pdf
Small world ...
Dr. Kimberly Kagan, President and Founder of the Institute for the Study of War
wiki.
At Yale, Kagan met her husband Frederick Kagan, who is an American resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI),[4] 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. (She was nominated to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs in May 2013.[3])
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3023686/posts
“Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham were vocal critics of the administration’s messaging after the Benghazi attacks, but on Friday, they issued a laudatory statement about Victoria Nuland”
Victoria Nuland
Spouse: Robert Kagan
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7370992.stm
Robert Kagan is an adviser to Senator John McCain and his idea that the United States should continue to take a strong, and possibly a confrontational, role in world affairs accords with McCain’s own views.
Kagan’s brother Frederick was instrumental in persuading President Bush to reinforce US forces in Iraq with last year’s “surge”, against the advice of the Iraq Study Group of “wise men” at the time. The surge was and is a policy supported by John McCain and one of the reasons for his political success.
Obama taps Victoria Nuland for assistant secretary
Friday, May 24, 201
EXCERPT
Following the announcement, Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is tasked with confirming her nomination, remained mum on her nomination, though a committee source speaking to The Cable said there is “very little chance” the nomination won’t trigger a fight.
Nuland, however, is something of an awkward target for Republicans. From 2003 to 2005, she served as principal deputy national security advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney. Her husband is prominent neoconservative writer Robert Kagan, co-founder of the Project for the New American Century and an advisor to Mitt Romney’s failed presidential bid.
AEI wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Enterprise_Institute
Kagan, Keane, and Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman presented the plan at a January 5, 2007, event at AEI. Bush announced the change of strategy on January 10 the idea having “won additional support among some officials as a result of a detailed study by Gen. Jack Keane, the former vice chief of staff at the Army, and Frederick W. Kagan, a military specialist, that was published by the American Enterprise Institute”.[28] Kagan authored three subsequent reports monitoring the progress of the surge.[72]
Thanks for heads-up re: Baier and O’Bagy. I had it DVRed.
Compare and contrast-— lol
Baier: “She [O’Bagy] is also the political director and humanitarian aid coordinator for a Syrian opp lobbying group, The SETF group -— with links to the FSA.”
Excerpt from my post 22-—O’Bagy’s direct quote from Cavuto interview:
“I don’t represent the SETF. I’m not one of their employees, nor do I lobby on their behalf. I work with them as an independent contractor specifically to use my research and my knowledge base to help improve US govt contracts.”
“I get a contract fee through these US govt contracts where I am written into the contract as an independent contractor.”
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Baier’s said she is the political director for SETF, linked to FSA.
O’Bagy never mentioned any of that on Cavuto, except to say, “ “I don’t represent the SETF.....”
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We still don’t have the straight story on her. Will keep my eye out for other appearances she might make. Gaffney said he was going to try to get her on his prog.