Posted on 07/27/2007 3:35:43 PM PDT by kellynla
The New Republic's anonymous "Baghdad Diarist" identified himself yesterday as Scott Thomas Beauchamp, an Army private in Iraq, and disputed as "maddening" accusations that he had invented his accounts of cruelty by American soldiers.
The magazine's editor, Franklin Foer, disclosed in an interview that Beauchamp is married to a New Republic staffer, and that is "part of the reason why we found him to be a credible writer." Foer also said Beauchamp "has put himself in significant jeopardy" and "lost his lifeline to the rest of the world" because military officials have taken away his laptop, cellphone and e-mail privileges.
As both the military and the magazine investigate Beauchamp's allegations, a personal blog surfaced in which Beauchamp said last year that each morning he feels "retarded for joining the army," "a little more liberal than the day before" and "a tool for global corporations."
In a statement posted on the New Republic's Web site, Beauchamp said his columns for the magazine, written under the name Scott Thomas, were "one soldier's view of events in Iraq" and "never intended as a reflection of the entire U.S. military."
"It's been maddening, to say the least," he added, "to see the plausibility of events that I witnessed questioned by people who have never served in Iraq. I was initially reluctant to take the time out of my already insane schedule fighting an actual war in order to play some role in an ideological battle that I never wanted to join. That being said, my character, my experiences, and those of my comrades in arms have been called into question, and I believe that it is important to stand by my writing under my real name."
Beauchamp did not provide any documentation for his three published columns.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
ping
Numbnuts oughta be court martialed.
Graduate of the Dan Rather School of Journalism no doubt.
I'm sure his reports addressed facts even though he wasn't required to back them up... Uh huh...
His earlier statements leave me less than convinced.
I guess War really is Hell! He should be promoted to permanent latrine crew chief for the rest of his tour.
According to the TNR masthead, she’s a reporter-researcher for the magazine."
http://michellemalkin.com/2007/07/26/scott-thomas-steps-out-of-the-shadows/
Oh, boohoo. I can't help but think of the men in the mud and the trenches in WWII who went without a "lifeline to the rest of the world" for a long, long time.
Did Kurtz wait to see what outstanding Freepers were finding out ?
This guy is on the trailing edge of this story
Email from Beauchamp's Cos 1Sgt posted by TomB.
But will these good men who have been slimed by this jerk get an apology from the New Republic? (Doubtful...)
Even more recent than WWII. This whole email and cellphone business didn’t get going until the 90s, especially for the military.
“Army Private” makes him an E-2 or even E-1. Given the length of time one ought to have been on active duty to get to and spend at least one tour in Iraq, and another one in Germany, I’d say this cat is a real dud or has already been busted for something.
It’s been an awful long time since I was in Journalism in HS, but I seem to remember a strong emphasis on fact-checking way back then. TNR did it back-@ssward, but I guess that’s how they do it when they get a story that fits their ideology.
The Army has to investigate whether his outrageous stories are true. They have to force him to name names, places, and dates, and eventually to testify or else charge him with impeding their investigation.
Of course he won’t be able to back-up anything, in which case he is in great trouble for making up stories (to say the least... perhaps even aiding the enemy).
Yes, he said he sought “plausibility” but never mentioned “truth.”
Meet the new front bumper gunner on the next convoy, Private Beauchamp.
I hope this guy faces time or the above.
Scott Thomas Beauchamp HAD invented his accounts of cruelty by American soldiers. The atrocities which he attributes to his fellow soldiers never happened.
Like the lurid tales of what was happening at Abu Ghraib (one of the great propaganda coups of the anti-war left in this country), this is pictured as being somehow the “policy” of the Bush Administration.
A half-truth, like a half-brick, is much easier to seize and hurl, and is often not recognized as such by the casual observer.
Well, I got busted down to E-1 once, so I can’t really say anything about that :-)
However, I bet he’s got a ‘counseling’ sheet as long as my arm.
I chased one of the links in the WaPo article at the top of this thread......the New Republic is now going to.......
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
“As we’ve noted in this space, some have questioned details that appeared in the Diarist “Shock Troops,” published under the pseudonym Scott Thomas. According to Major Kirk Luedeke, a public affairs officer at Forward Operating Base Falcon, a formal military investigation has also been launched into the incidents described in the piece.
Although the article was rigorously edited and fact-checked before it was published, we have decided to go back and, to the extent possible, re-report every detail. This process takes considerable time, as the primary subjects are on another continent, with intermittent access to phones and email. Thus far we’ve found nothing to disprove the facts in the article; we will release the full results of our search when it is completed.
In the meantime, the author has requested that we publish the statement below. —The Editors
http://www.tnr.com/blog/the_plank?pid=128957
poor sap is doomed. wait till he finds out the leftists will drop him like a hot potato.
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