ADVENTURES IN EUPHEMISM: Pro-opposition Syria analyst O’Bagy admits she was never enrolled in Ph.D. program.

O’Bagy was fired last week from the Institute for the Study of War after the think tank alleged she lied about her education credentials. The institute claimed O’Bagy did not have a Ph.D. degree from Georgetown University as she had claimed.

O’Bagy reportedly countered that she had defended her dissertation, and was simply waiting for the university to confer the degree.

But in a statement to The Daily Beast, O’Bagy reportedly admitted she was never enrolled in that program. She apparently applied to a joint master’s/Ph.D. program, but was not accepted. She was only in the master’s program.

“I would like to deeply apologize to every person with whom I have worked, who has read and depended upon my research, and to the general public,” O’Bagy said in a statement. “While I have made many mistakes and showed extremely poor judgment, I most particularly regret my public misrepresentation of my educational status and not immediately disclosing that I had not been awarded a doctorate in May 2013.”

I think the problem is more about claiming to have received a doctorate rather than about failing immediately to disclose not having received one. I mean, I’ve never disclosed not having received a doctorate and I certainly don’t feel any regret. But then again, I never lied about having one in the first place. But that’s just me, I guess.