Free Republic

The deputy to General Salim Idriss — the Free Syrian Army commander Senator McCain would have us back — has announced that the mujahideen rebels’ supreme council will disband unless the West drops its demands to steer clear of violent jihadists and refrain from attempting to take over the Assad regime’s chemical weapons stocks. The Foreign Policy report is excerpted by Weasel Zippers, including this:

Five days after WND first broke the news that the strategy by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Secretary of State John F. Kerry to cast members of the Free Syria Army as “moderates” among the Syrian rebel forces was the brain-child of a Wall Street Journal researcher, the analyst has been fired from a Washington think-tank for lying about her qualifications. As WND reported, Elizabeth O’Bagy, 26, had claimed she was pursuing a Ph.D. in Arab studies and political science at Georgetown University and working on a dissertation on woman’s militancy. In his Sept. 3 testimony before the Senate Foreign...

The Syrian Emergency Task Force the pro-rebel lobbying outfit that employs widely quoted intervention advocate Elizabeth O’Bagy 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, O’Bagy explained how she got paid. O’Bagy 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 I’ve been...

Elizabeth O'Bagy, whose WSJ column was relied on by John Kerry and John McCain to justify Obama's proposed Syria intervention was fired from her job for falsely claiming to hold a Ph.D. degree. Was she even enrolled as a Ph.D. candidate somewhere? It is unclear. A web page for Georgetown's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies indicates that "Elizabeth (Bailey) O'Bagy" graduated with an Master of Arts in Arab Studies. She is fifth from the bottom of the list at http://ccas.georgetown.edu/story/1242708341083.html. Was she even a doctoral candidate? Dunno.

The Syria researcher whose Wall Street Journal op-piece was cited by Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. John McCain during congressional hearings about the use of force has been fired from the Institute for the Study of War for lying about having a Ph.D., the group announced on Wednesday. “The Institute for the Study of War has learned and confirmed that, contrary to her representations, Ms. Elizabeth O’Bagy does not in fact have a Ph.D. degree from Georgetown University,” the institute said in a statement. “ISW has accordingly terminated Ms. O’Bagy’s employment, effective immediately.” O’Bagy told POLITICO’s Kate Brannen...

A young researcher whose opinions on Syria were cited by both Senator McCain and Secretary of State John Kerry in congressional testimony last week has been fired from the Institute for the Study of War for allegedly faking her academic credentials. The institute issued a statement on its website concerning the researcher, Elizabeth O’Bagy: The Institute for the Study of War has learned and confirmed that, contrary to her representations, Ms. Elizabeth O’Bagy does not in fact have a Ph.D. degree from Georgetown University. ISW has accordingly terminated Ms. O’Bagy’s employment, effective immediately. O’Bagy and her op-ed drew scrutiny last...

(Note: This pre-dates the revelation of O'Bagy's termination over her lie) There have definitely been some changes over at the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF) website since Senator John McCain and Secretary of State John Kerry put an op-ed by the group’s political director under a national spotlight last week. It began when McCain pointed to a Wall Street Journal article by Elizabeth O’Bagy in a September 3rd Senate Committee hearing. Kerry then referenced it in a House Committee hearing the following day. (snip) Of course, the ISNA is a Muslim Brotherhood group in America. In fact, when it comes...

The Syria researcher whose Wall Street Journal op-ed piece was cited by Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. John McCain during congressional hearings about the use of force has been fired from the Institute for the Study of War for lying about having a Ph.D., the group announced on Wednesday. “The Institute for the Study of War has learned and confirmed that, contrary to her representations, Ms. Elizabeth O’Bagy does not in fact have a Ph.D. degree from Georgetown University,” the institute said in a statement. “ISW has accordingly terminated Ms. O’Bagy’s employment, effective immediately.”

Elizabeth O’Bagy is listed as a Political Director for the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF) in the group’s Washington, D.C. office. SETF lobbies Congress on behalf of the Syrian rebels. During a Senate hearing this week, Senator John McCain, perhaps the most vocal supporter of the Syrian rebels in Congress, pointed to an op-ed by the twenty-six year-old O’Bagy that appeared in the Wall Street Journal on August 30th. He then asked Secretary of State John Kerry, who agrees with him, if O’Bagy’s assertions were correct... *snip* Georgetown University is under the very strong influence of Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin...

The Syria researcher, who wrote the oft cited OpEd piece by Elizabeth O'Bagy, on the Syrian Conflict was fired for lying about having a PHD. from Georgetown University. She also failed to reveal one small little detail. She works for the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a nonprofit group who advocates for Al Qaeda and other opposing forces in Syria. And let us not forget the best part. Who pays for this propaganda? You do. The main problem is that she has caught the ear of many of our leaders. She has been cited by John McCain, John Kerry, and others....

The woman whose opinion lawmakers are relying on to go to war in Syria is also a paid advocate for the war-torn country’s rebels. On Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry encouraged members of the House of Representatives to read a Wall Street Journal op-ed by 26-year-old Elizabeth O’Bagy — an analyst with the Institute for the Study of War — who asserted that concerns about extremists dominating among the Syrian rebels are unfounded. But in addition to her work for the Institute for the Study of War, O’Bagy is also the political director for the Syrian Emergency Task Force...