Shades of the Dodgy Dossier

The Media Lies

Dr. Elizabeth O’Bagy according to John McCain is a “Syria analyst at the Institute for the Study of War.” Both he and Secretary of State John Kerry have cited her work.  Kerry spoke before Congress about O'Bagy's "enormous" experience covering Syria” O’Bagy has written that “contrary to many media accounts, the war in Syria is not being waged entirely, or even predominantly, by dangerous Islamists and al Qaeda die-hards.” She has recently appeared on CNN and Fox News as a Syria expert.

Not disclosed is O'Bagy's role as political director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a  group that has lobbied the White House and Congress to support the Syrian rebels. The group helped arrange McCain's visit with Free Syrian Army commanders in May. The Wall St Journal explained  The Syrian Emergency Task Force, a nonprofit operating as a 501(c)(3) pending IRS approval that subcontracts with the U.S. and British governments to provide aid to the Syrian opposition.

Janine Di Giovanni, a veteran foreign correspondent who has reported on the ground there, suggested that the young researcher had “exaggerated wildly her experience inside Syria.

 She has now been sacked  by the Institute for the Study of War after they learned she had falsely claimed she holds a Ph.D.

Lying, of course can only enhance her political cv and speed her climb up its ladder.