Posted on 07/26/2007 4:26:20 AM PDT by TomB
A STATEMENT FROM SCOTT THOMAS BEAUCHAMP:
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
I am Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp, a member of Alpha Company, 1/18 Infantry, Second Brigade Combat Team, First Infantry Division.
My pieces were always intended to provide my discreet view of the war; they were never intended as a reflection of the entire U.S. Military. I wanted Americans to have one soldier's view of events in Iraq.
It's been maddening, to say the least, 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.
--Private Scott Thomas BeauchampMy Diarist, "Shock Troops," and the two other pieces I wrote for the New Republic have stirred more controversy than I could ever have anticipated. They were written under a pseudonym, because I wanted to write honestly about my experiences, without fear of reprisal. Unfortunately, my pseudonym has caused confusion. And there seems to be one major way in which I can clarify the debate over my pieces: I'm willing to stand by the entirety of my articles for the New Republic using my real name.
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/07/private-beaucha.html
Every morning I get up and say I’m Scott Beauchamp, in the army, living in Germany, and this is my life, and I’m going to be treated like shit today and do landscaping and janitorial work and practice killing people and there could be no other way to appreciate what I had or what I’m going to have once I get out other than enduring this now when all I really want to do is teach history and lay around and read and hustle around and repair the world (tikkun olam) and sift through knowledge and improve culture and learn how to sail and work in soup kitchens and start a family and really, I mean REALLY study the best the western civilization has to offer and facilitiate the mystery and power through everything I do, but I cant do it without getting through this army experience first, which will add a legitimacy to EVERYTHING i do afterwards, and totally bolster my opinions on defense, etc, and of course its making me a lot less lazy, just because im not use to being lazy any more, etc.
And there is a picture of this lazy ass too!
So if I step forward and state that Joe Blow is a pedophile, when I know he’s not, I’m being “honorable” because I’ve Id’d myself?
I’m going to have to disagree with you.
Let me get this straight. The New Republic publishes an article by a soldier and in that article the soldier writes that he made fun of a disfigured woman wounded in combat. Why would they publish something by an author so comtemptible?
Here’s a guy in big trouble with his superiors - and his “buddies” - unless we get political pressure to excuse his inexcusable actions. This kid is craving the attention he never got at home or the ass kicking he deserved.
Scott Thomas never wanted to be anything but a private anyway. Bet the chow line is going to be interesting.
Pray for W and Our Troops
What a drama queen this guy is.
I've read the same kind of stuff aabout him and his agenda, and knowing the guys I know who have been over there, it was obvious he was and is just full of it.
I hope they give him a dishonorable discharge. I don't think he will go the same route as John Kerry......
Hang in there with the temps. I still have a pic of my son in battle gear with a thermometer over 120 right next to him.
Good bumping into you again on the forum.
The-entire-blogoshpere-is-talking-about-it-and-it-STILL-isn’t-breaking news-BTTT
Hey, if he didn’t want to fight an ideological battle, why the heck is he in the ARMY?
Mid-Mo. protesters hit D.C.
They joined a march in support for reproductive rights.
By ELSPETH REEVE and DANIELA VELÁZQUEZ
April 26, 2004 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Washington Hundreds of thousands of people descended on the nations capital Sunday to protest recent U.S. policies regarding womens reproductive health. Included in the throng of marchers were more than 100 young men and women from the Columbia area.
I dont think theres usually enough men at these kind of events, so its really important to show up and support it, said Scott Beauchamp, who endured a 24-hour bus ride from Columbia to attend Sundays march. I think its really a civil rights issue.
(http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2004/04/26/mid-mo-protesters-hit-dc/)
Yup, Elsbeth is a really honest and forthright so-called “journalist” — quoting her boyfriend/fiance gives her an easy, biased source without any effort, and gets his name in the paper...... that’s a two-fer if you are a dishonest, lazy leftist hack.
She did that while in journalism school. Just makes you wonder how many professional (and I use that term loosely) journalist do that to this day.
He either has to admit he embellished or made up the stories or he’ll have to fill out reports, be questioned, name names and face trouble for the reason above.
Not very smart.
Are these leftist SO DUMB they think they can pull that Vietnam crap again? Hello....bloggers, more news competition, more people to ask questions, Internet, emails. Oh wait, their leftist, of course.
And I believe they said some already figured out who he was (used his same first and middle initials when “anonymous”) and “outed” him. HA HA
No, he joined the military to get the credentials to make him a STAR in the world of liberal idiocy.
And I posted this twelve hours ago. What's your point?
When I googled "scott thomas beauchamp" on blogs this morning, I think there was one hit, the TNR piece.
She also isn’t all that talented: her Tour de Force was a piece in sarcastic defense of Ann Coulter.
Says more about them than us: you can’t become famous among your fellow fish unless you take on Evil conservative women. Yet, she took a ton of flack from people who didn’t “get it”.
Google “Elspeth Reeve” and you’ll come across its impact.
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