Army Says Soldier’s Articles for Magazine Were False

The New York Times ^ | August 8, 2007 | PATRICIA COHEN

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

An Army investigation into the Baghdad Diarist, a soldier in Iraq who wrote anonymous columns for The New Republic, has concluded that the sometimes shockingly cruel reports were false.

“We are not going into the details of the investigation,” Maj. Steven F. Lamb, deputy public affairs officer in Baghdad, wrote in an e-mail message. “The allegations are false, his platoon and company were interviewed, and no one could substantiate the claims he made.”

The brief statement, however, left many questions unanswered. Just last week The New Republic published on its Web site the results of its own investigation, stating that five members of the same company as Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp, who had written the anonymous pieces, “all corroborated Beauchamp’s anecdotes, which they witnessed or, in the case of one soldier, heard about contemporaneously. (All of the soldiers we interviewed who had first-hand knowledge of the episodes requested anonymity.)”

Private Beauchamp had revealed his identity after The Weekly Standard online and conservative bloggers expressed doubts about their veracity. As the Baghdad Diarist, he wrote that one soldier had jokingly worn the remnant of a child’s skull on his head. In another issue, he said he and a soldier had mocked a terribly disfigured woman sitting near them in the mess tent. Franklin Foer, editor of The New Republic said that after Private Beauchamp revealed his identity, the Army severely curtailed his telephone and e-mail privileges.

Private Beauchamp is married to a reporter-researcher at the magazine, Elspeth Reeve.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Michael Goldfarb, the online editor at The Weekly Standard who had initially raised doubt about the columns, wrote yesterday that The Standard had learned from a source close to the Army investigation that Private Beauchamp “signed a sworn statement admitting that all three articles he published in The New Republic were exaggerations and falsehoods — fabrications containing only ‘a smidgen of truth,’ in the words of our source.”

[dighton]

The brief statement, however, left many questions unanswered.

Yeah, keep hoping.

[pnh102]

Someone who does this ought to be prosecuted for treason.

[Doctor Raoul]

Private Beauchamp is married to a reporter-researcher at the magazine, Elspeth Reeve.

For now. He's no longer useful, so my money says she dumps him.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Beauchamp Recants

[NewHampshireDuo]

The NYT is sad.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

sorry for the double pings

[Shermy]

“five members of the same company”

Let me guess...five e-mail identities of Pvt. Beauchamp himself.

Dibs on that one!

[Shqipo]

Beauchamp and TNR both caught in the act of Anonymous Sedition.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

criminal libel is Article 134, UCMJ

[hsalaw]

Foer said, ...“We hope the military will share what it has learned so that we can resolve this discrepancy.”

All he has to do is read the first line of this article. The Army found the claims were false. Period.

[pnh102]

criminal libel is Article 134, UCMJ

Thanks for pointing this out. Now if only the misguided higher-ups in the military would stop wasting time persecuting good soldiers for doing their jobs, and instead go after these scumbags who defame our troops and the USA in general, we might make some headway.

[Recovering_Democrat]

IMAGINE THIS WERE A FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT!

Oh, my God...the coverage would be non-stop on the networks.

[AlphaOneAlpha]

One has to question why this so-called new media did not mention, up front that the supposed soldier was married to one of their employees. The answer is quite simple. In there hysterical zeal to give a negative story, little did they think about sane people questioning their idiotic sounding report and publication. TNR needs to be shut down as a crack-pot and reckless source of disinformation. It appears TNR wants to take this one to the grave, which is fine by me. The sooner this piece of garbage takes a dirt-nap, the better off America will be

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Now that is just cruel ,,,, /s

[river rat]

The New York Slimes is bending over so far to believe this lying POS — they’ve finally exposed their own lying ass as disinterested in the truth and despising the military and it mission.

The defense of the Republic...

[Shelayne]

“We are not going into the details of the investigation,” Maj. Steven F. Lamb, deputy public affairs officer in Baghdad, wrote in an e-mail message. “The allegations are false, his platoon and company were interviewed, and no one could substantiate the claims he made.”

Never mind the fact that a lot of the sewage he was supposedly recording in his journal was written while he was waiting for his deployment to Iraq.

Yeah, the war turned him into a monster alright. Apparently he can't even think about Iraq without imagining all sorts of atrocities he could witness.

What a sick individual.

[plangent]

The New York Times Lies, again.

Here is the quote directly from The New Republic:

—When we called Army spokesman Major Steven F. Lamb and asked about an
anonymously sourced allegation that Beauchamp had recanted his articles
in a sworn statement, he told us, “I have no knowledge of that.”—

Here is the Times Version:

==Yesterday, The New Republic posted another note on its Web site saying
its editors had spoken to Major Lamb and asked whether Private Beauchamp
had indeed signed a statement admitting to fabrications. “He told us,
‘I have no knowledge of that.’—

[jveritas]

What are the idiots in The New Republic going to do now? I bet they will circle the wagons the way liberals do when they get caught in lies and they are now used to it because they are caught lying 24/7.

[river rat]

UCMJ - Article 134

934. ART. 134. GENERAL ARTICLE

Though not specifically mentioned in this chapter, all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, and crimes and offenses not capital, of which persons subject to this chapter may be guilty, shall be taken cognizance of by a general, special or summary court-martial, according to the nature and degree of the offense, and shall be punished at the discretion of that court.

Sounds like that'll work!
However - I'd bet even money the guy will escape Leavenworth.