Flap Your Lips Friday
Posted by Michelle Moquin on September 20th, 2013
Good morning!
I found this write from Think Progress pretty interesting…
The Inside Story Of How A Fake PhD Hijacked The Syria Debate
BY ZACK BEAUCHAMP ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2013 AT 7:54 PM
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.
But O’Bagy had already begun to misrepresent her credentials. Kagan told me that she “knew [O'Bagy] was a student at Georgetown in a combined masters/PhD program,” and that new hire was writing a dissertation on “female militancy in Islamic extremist organizations.” Several media outlets have repeated this account as fact in their write-ups of O’Bagy’s firing, all maintaining that she is still in the process of completing a Georgetown doctorate.
This is almost certainly false. Either O’Bagy was at one point enrolled a PhD program and dropped out, or she has been lying the entire time. Some evidence points to the latter.
To begin with, O’Bagy was enrolled in the Arab Studies Master’s program, which only partners with three departments for joint doctorate programs: Government, History, and Arabic Language, Literature, and Linguistics. Given her purported topic, she would have partnered with Government — according to one Georgetown PhD student who met O’Bagy, she had claimed a distinguished member of the Government Department as her adviser.
She is not listed as a PhD student on the Government department’s website. She does not exist in the university directory. A search of the entire Georgetown website turns up only one hit, a congratulations notice for her Master’s graduation.
There is “no evidence that she is associated with our department in any way; she’s not among our students as far as we can tell,” Daniel Nexon, a Government Professor who served as the Director of Admissions and Fellowships for all but one of the years she could have applied. The professor who was supposedly advising O’Bagy’s dissertation has never heard of her.
When I asked Kagan about the evidence of O’Bagy’s initial, ongoing deception, she demurred. “That I actually need to refer you to Georgetown for.”
After ISW hired her in the late summer of 2012, O’Bagy quickly went about using her top-notch Arabic skills to feel out the situation on the ground in Syria. She made a number of contacts among the anti-Assad insurgents, a feat relatively few DC analysts had accomplished.
Though we know those trips took place, it’s not quite clear who funded them. It certainly wasn’t ISW: when I asked Kagan how O’Bagy made all her Syrian friends, she sounded stumped. “That’s a really good question. I’m afraid I can’t really tell you that,” the ISW President said, acknowledging that O’Bagy’s expertise wasn’t gathered through ISW projects or ISW-funded trips. “She kept me informed about [her opposition contacts] and apprised me that they existed.”
However O’Bagy acquired her contacts, the work they helped her produce was influential and widely respected. Over the course of roughly a year, she went from a graduate student and intern to a pundit makingregular appearances on Fox News and being published in Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, and well, The Wall Street Journal. She was promoted to Senior Analyst and then to Syria Team Lead at ISW, and had become known as a go-to expert on the Syrian rebels among foreign policy experts.
But the closer Icarus flew to the sun, the faster the wax on her feathers began to melt. The first hard record of her claiming a doctorate came in April 2013, when she told a friend, Jonathan Rue, that she was “soon to be Dr. O’Bagy.” According to Kagan, she began widely claiming the Dr. title in May, right around when she graduated from her Master’s program.
That’s also when she took on a second position as the Political Director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), a pro-Syrian rebel lobbying group that identified her as “Dr. Elizabeth O’Bagy.” It’s in that capacity when she and Senator McCain likely first came into direct or indirect contact, as SETF assisted in planning the Senator’s secret trip to Syria.
The implicit tension between O’Bagy’s prominent public role and her fake credentials became unbearable after McCain and Kerry touted her work in the closely watched hearings on Congressional authorization for war in Syria. But weirdly, the first questions raised about O’Bagy weren’t because of anything she did wrong personally. The Journal op-ed cited by Kerry and McCain did not identify O’Bagy’s role at SETF, relevant information for readers of a piece that paints a picture of the Syrian opposition as relatively moderate.
The Journal’s mistake (which it later corrected) led to more intense scrutiny of O’Bagy’s past. 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.
More importantly, September 9th was also the day that a discussion broke out amongst a group of scholars about O’Bagy’s purported Georgetown credentials. Records obtained by ThinkProgress show a conversation, which included members of the Georgetown faculty, in which a number of academics expressed deep skepticism about O’Bagy’s Ph.D. Near the end of the conversation, one participant mentioned that “ISW was contacted” with the group’s concerns.
Just days before, on September 4th, ISW’s website had described her as “Dr. Elizabeth O’Bagy.” I confirmed with Kagan that O’Bagy had not updated the bio herself, indicating that ISW support staff had been notified of the purported change in O’Bagy’s status. By late on the 9th, the Dr. reference had been deleted, and O’Bagy had been dismissed — a move that was announced on the morning of the 10th.
Kagan credits O’Bagy with finally turning herself in. “I think the most important thing that I need to tell you is that Elizabeth told me [on the 9th] that she had not successfully defended her dissertation.” It’s not clear what finally prompted her to do that. I asked Kagan to forward a request for comment to O’Bagy but, as of yet, have heard nothing. I probably won’t: O’Bagy told Buzzfeed that she is “no longer legally allowed to discuss my employment with [ISW] or affiliate it any way.” So there’s a decent chance we’ll never know the whole story.
Regardless, O’Bagy’s rise and fall is yet more evidence that the talented people who populate America’s media and policy apparatus never seem to quite fully internalize: never, ever lie about something someone else can prove you wrong about. You’re going to get caught.
****
Readers: The thing is, people who lie a lot think that their shit doesn’t stink and that they will never get caught. These pathological liars get so used to lying that they begin to believe their lies and make up lies to cover their lies. Inevitably they do get caught. We see it all the time in politics. And no matter how many times we read about it, people continue to do it thinking they will be the one who gets away with it.
I think O’Bagy needs to be added to the LSOS Club – right? It’s Friday. You know what to do.
Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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September 20th, 2013 at 10:26 am
Sometimes I wish I could tell the whole world I love you.
September 21st, 2013 at 1:44 am
redtail151
Fact:” Whose, fox fake facts? Let me help you with those lies.After his inauguration, Obama announced to a joint session of Congress in February 2009 his intent to work with Congress to construct a plan for health care reform.[56][57] …”
As to your wiki cut and paste, nothing in it tells changes the fact that 30 some Dems voted against Obamacare along with all Reps.
That some Republicans were minority members in committees charged with reviewing various parts of the proposed legislation has nothing to do with my point. Democrats controlled every last detail that went into Obamacare. They did not need a single Rep vote and they knew it so they didn’t bother to negotiate with them at all.
So tell me, exactly what am I blind about???
Reply Fave
1 second ago LeTA0
Those fox fake facts that you just attempted to warp into some convoluted logic. Universal healthcare didn’t originate with Obama. Despite your party’s attempt to rewrite history. They were for it before they were against it.
The only meeting you need to concern yourself about if you want an inclining of what is going in those tiny corrupt racist republican Congressional minds is the one they had on that inauguration day. http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=51766
The world knows if you don’t. http://thetandd.com/news/opinion/gop-plot-is-definitely-un-american/article_9b7b63fc-a6c2-11e1-bb29-0019bb2963f4.html
It was the one where they plotted to destroy the government to insure that the black guy would only be a one term president. TREASON in any other circumstance by any other cabal determined to sabotage the government they swore to uphold and to protect.
That would be what you are blind about.
Reply
September 21st, 2013 at 8:18 am
Anonymous-you better sing it while you can. Love don’t last.
September 21st, 2013 at 8:57 am
They hired her to lie then fired her for doing it.
September 21st, 2013 at 8:59 am
This could have been a setup 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*.
September 21st, 2013 at 9:25 am
There is no question that grassroots support can be the difference between winning and losing elections.
So let’s be clear: What happens in next year’s elections will depend on what you do – right now.
When I first decided to run for the Senate two years ago, the pundits all said it would be an uphill battle. Scott Brown already had $10 million in the bank from the Tea Party and powerful special interests—and Wall Street had promised more money to come. But because grassroots supporters like you helped me early and often, we overcame his fundraising advantage and all the odds. That support is the reason I’m now able to continue my fight for a level playing field in the Senate.
Now, it’s time to roll up our sleeves and fight again. The Republicans are already spending millions on unfair attacks because they know control of the Senate could come down to just one seat. They haven’t had control of the Senate for more than six years, and they are doubling down on their efforts. So it’s going to take each of us working together to stop them.
Today’s fight is about who we are as a people, and what kind of country we want to live in.
I want to live in an America where we don’t have to choose between a government shutdown and healthcare for millions of Americans. I want to live in a country where everyone pays a fair share and where we work together to put the conditions in place so that the next kid can get ahead, and the kid after that.
I know firsthand that it’s grassroots supporters like you who make real change happen and win elections. I’m grateful that I had your support last year.
Over the past several years, we have learned how much elections matter. We have seen Democratic victories lead to health care reform, to the creation of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and to so much other progress.
We also have learned what Republican victories mean. You just need to read the newspaper to see the extent to which Republican control of the House of Representatives has blocked President Obama’s agenda, slowed our fight for middle class families, and brought dysfunction to Washington.
Thanks for sticking with me,
Elizabeth Warren
September 21st, 2013 at 9:37 am
#1 anonymous, why don’t you do what you wish? All the world loves a lover.
(& I say this partially is bc #3, C, is almost right, love doesn’t last, romantic love that is…love changes form and while you’re in the state of romantic dopamine soaked love and wanting to shout from rooftops – go do it!)
Luv, Zen Lill
September 21st, 2013 at 10:56 am
Whoever is in charge of looking after Guam had better get on their job before we sink. In the last few hours we have had more than 7 inches of rain. That is a record for Guam!. And today it i still coming down. Is somebody trying to drown us?
September 21st, 2013 at 11:14 am
Zen Lill, I wish I could but she is married and that would be terrible for her. I have to admit though you may be right about that romantic dopamine state. How long does that state last. I’ve been pussy whipped for 3 years now. I have no desire for anyone else. I just wait until she can get with me.
I drive a hot car so the women tend to give me attention. I have and still do get my share of propositions from some fine stuff. But the truth is I can’t see pass that woman. I don’t know if she is the finest thing on the planet or if I just think that she is.
Either way, I can’t see wasting my time with second bests. I haven’t told her the effect she has on me so I am going t keep this anonymous. She claims she is modest but she does have a head about her looks. I must be doing something wrong. I am so much richer than anything she is familiar with. I can certainly give her a much better life style.
Our sex is good. I mean unless she is a very good actress, she seems to really enjoy our trysts. She is the one hot to do it most of the time. I always want her sexually, but sometimes she is just to pretty to f**K. The look and smell of her is so intoxicating, I’m too drunk to get it up, unless she insists and she usually does.
When I’m inside of her, I find myself checking to see if it is real. This gorgeous thing is actually spreading her legs for me and enjoying it at a level that stuns me. I feel like I’m in a dream. Three years non stop this has been going on.
When this “romantic love” dies, what will I get? Is that true for women also. She says that she loves me, but I know that she will f**k a good hard dick if the mood grabs her. She says I’m just being jealous if I suggest that I am not good with that.
I gave up my hot car to keep girls from putting their numbers on it and I try to dress down so as to not attract unwanted attention from the ladies. But she is such a knockout that I insist that she show the world her beauty. However, that doesn’t mean I want her to put out. Is that jealous or to possessive?
September 21st, 2013 at 11:15 am
C#3, what makes you say that?
September 21st, 2013 at 11:27 am
Hafa adai Anna. I agree with you. I am a UOG student and due to weather conditions, flash flood warnings and road closures, the University of Guam cancelled all classes until Friday. I had a major presentation I had prepared weeks for to get into University of Santa Clara in CA.
If you have any pull, please do something about the gawdful rain.
September 21st, 2013 at 11:32 am
Hafa adai, yes it is a bit more wet than usual at this time of year. But let’s not blame the aliens. I like the fact that a message is being sent to the police on Guam that they are not immune to the anger of the people. Guam Police Department Officers Anthony Quenga and David Manila were found guilty on all charges, including kidnapping and rape, in the Blue House brothel case.
Jurors completed their deliberations today. The verdicts were read this afternoon at the Superior Court of Guam.
The Blue House karaoke lounge was a front for a brothel, which opened around 2004 until it was shut down in 2008.
The two officers helped Blue House brothel owner Song Ja Cha force women into prostitution, threatening them with arrest if the women failed to do Cha’s bidding — which included providing sex to paying customers.
Cha was tried in District Court and sentenced to life in federal prison. She faces charges in local court.
What I am looking for is the sentencing. If the woman, Cha, who ran it gets life, what should the men who enforced her threats get?
We shall see.
September 21st, 2013 at 11:34 am
Hafa Adai: Please exercise caution while driving. Today’s torrential downpour has caused severe flooding on several streets. Guam Homeland Security/ Office of Civil Defense announced the following road closures:
-Aguon Road, Manengon
-Toto Canada, Snake Road
-Tun Juan White, Barrigada
-Maimai Road, Chalan Pago
-Tagueguo St., Agana Heights
-Route 1, Salisbury St., north and southbound are impassable. Residents are being asked to take alternate routes
-Ylig Bridge is Closed
- Route 1 Polaris Point going northbound only one lane is passable
Civil Defense urges residents to avoid driving if possible until the heavy rains pass. If you have to get out on the road the agency issues the following safety precautions:
1) Turn your headlights on
2) Be aware your visibility will be limited. You may not see flooded areas until you are very close, so pay attention.
3) Be ready to stop
4) Keep a lookout for flooded areas or standing water. Do not drive through flooded roadways, especially if you have a vehicle with low clearance. Find another way to get to your intended destination.
5) As it gets dark, be extremely cautious as it can become very difficult to recognize flood dangers.
September 21st, 2013 at 6:37 pm
Anon #1 (No. 10) – nothing lasts – it’s all an illusion – it must by nature change. Enjoy what you have and live in the moment. But if you can’t live honestly and in your truth then what’s the point? Is it worth keeping someone else’s secret and by default causing you to need keep your own? Is the heart caged or free? On wings or in chains?
We are but moments and must seize them!