The Times did a fantastic job on the accompanying infographic - and I am sure every university teacher would wish to have so compelling a visualization of what plagiarism looks like to present to students and administrative boards.
What I am struck by, however, is just how bad these fourteen pages of drivel are, original or not. My view is obviously overly rosy, since I had always assumed that the US military educational institutions were still at least slightly serious academically. But fourteen pages of bromides, which would still be entirely unoriginal if Mr Walsh had laboured over every word?
Democracy promoters need to engage as much as possible in a dialogue with a wide cross section of influential elites: mainstream academics, journalists, moderate Islamists, and members of the professional associations who play a political role in some Arab countries, rather than only the narrow world of westernized democracy and human rights advocates.(taken, incidentally, from a woolly think-tank piece)
The United States will have an interest in promoting democracy because further democratization enhances the lives of citizens of other countries and contributes to a more peaceful international system.Sean M. Lynn-Jones should be embarrassed to have ever written such a terrible, terrible sentence; but to plagiarise it?
It gets even better. Mr Walsh's excuse is perfectly sophomoric - it was PTSD!
So what's the worst part? That the Army War College could have possible thought of handing out a masters degree on the basis of such work? That he engaged in systematic plagiarism for a fourteen-page paper? That he thinks that PTSD is a legitimate excuse?
Will Mr Walsh follow in the honourable footsteps of Annete Shavan and Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg?
Not holding my breath . . .
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