SHOCK DOCS: THE NEW REPUBLIC 'SHOCK TROOPS' STORY COLLAPSES

Drudge ^ | 10/24/2007 | Matt Drudge

[coffee260]

SHOCK DOCS: THE NEW REPUBLIC 'SHOCK TROOPS' STORY COLLAPSES
WED Oct 24 2007 12:29:44 ET

The DRUDGE REPORT has optained internal documents from the investigation of THE NEW REPUBLIC'S "Baghdad Diarist", Scott Thomas Beauchamp, an Army private turned war correspondent who reported tales of military malfeasance from the Iraq War front.

The documents appear to expose that once the veracity of Beauchamp's diaries were called into question, and an Army investigation ensued, THE NEW REPUBLIC has failed to publicly account for publishing slanderous falsehoods about the U.S. military in a time of war.

Document 1: Beauchamp Refuses to Stand by Story (Beauchamp Transcript Part 1)

THE NEW REPUBLIC has been standing behind the stories from their Baghdad Diarist, Scott Thomas Beauchamp, since questions were first raised about their accuracy over the summer. On August 10, the editors at TNR accused the Army of "stonewalling" their investigation into the stories by preventing them from speaking with Beauchamp. The DRUDGE REPORT has since obtained the transcript of a September 7 call between TNR editor Frank Foer, TNR executive editor Peter Scoblic, and Private Beauchamp. During the call, Beauchamp declines to stand by his stories, telling his editors that "I just want it to end. I'm not going to talk to anyone about anything really." The editors respond that "we just can't, in good conscience, continue to defend the piece" without an explanation, but Beauchamp responds only that he "doesn't care what the public thinks." The editors then ask Beauchamp to cancel scheduled interviews with the WASHINGTON POST and NEWSWEEK.

Document 2: Beauchamp Admits to "Gross Exaggerations and Inaccurate Allegations" (Beauchamp Transcript Part 2)

The DRUDGE REPORT has also obtained a signed "Memorandum for Record" in which Beauchamp recants his stories and concedes the facts of the Army's investigation -- that his stories contained "gross exaggerations and inaccurate allegations of misconduct" by his fellow soldiers.

Document 3: Army Investigation: Tales "Completely Fabricated," Beauchamp Wanted to be Hemingway

The third document obtained by the DRUDGE REPORT is the Army's official report on the investigation into the allegations made by Private Beauchamp. The Army concluded that Beauchamp had "completely fabricated" the story of mocking a disfigured woman, that his description of a "Saddam-era dumping ground" was false, and that claims that he and his men had deliberately targeted dogs with their armored vehicles was "completely unfounded." Further the report stated "that Private Beauchamp desired to use his experiences to enhance his writing and provide legitimacy to his work possibly becoming the next Hemingway."

The report concludes that "Private Beauchamp takes small bits of truth and twists and exaggerates them into fictional accounts that he puts forth as the whole truth for public consumption."

Developing...

 

[capt. norm]

I’ve always found this sort of a wierd story. Soldier writes tales of outrageous actions. Army investigates, and essentially says “boy, you’d better be making this up, ‘cause if not, your ass is in a sling.” Soldier then, not surprisingly, says that it was all artistic license.

For your scenario to make sense, you have to conveniently forget the fact that he was never even there.

Hello?

I can only guess why you want to overlook that well-known fact.

[mallardx]

Here’s a letter I sent to letters@tnr.com:

I went to your website expecting to find information clarifying your previously published lies about our military forces. I performed a search under “Beauchamp”, “Fake journalism stories”, and “treason” and was unable to find a match to any of your articles on the fake atrocities.

As an American I insist that you publish a detailed, lengthy apology to our Nation and to our military forces. You cannot hide from your lame attempts at undermining our troops in a time of war, and I will do my best to see that you are legally punished for endangering our troops and working hand in hand with our enemies in a time of war. The attempts at sabotaging your political opponents have gone too far this time.

I also would like to see a list of TNR collaborators from editors down to the disgraced journalist himself, with their names, phone numbers, and a personal apology from each. We need to track those who endanger our troops and make sure that further losses of American life can be prevented by eliminating enemy propaganda both here and in the Middle East. Enabling those who wish to do us harm by printing false allegations against the only Nation in the World that stands up for human rights is a crime against humanity and a slap in the face to the just and the righteous.

Thank you for your cooperation. I expect to see an apology on your website and in your magazine soon.

[wastedyears]

Go Drudge

[Mr. Lucky]

The fact that there was absolutely no corroborative evidence for allegations of behavior that would have had to have occurred in front of hundreds of other soldiers is how the Army was able to to establish that these stories were a hoax.

[Goodness]

"..about which you hold only hearsay information."

And Capt. Norm was in the courtroom?

[Interesting Times]

Lying leftist soldier ping...

[capt. norm]

"..about which you hold only hearsay information."

And Capt. Norm was in the courtroom?

That's right. But I wasn't the one who concocted the scenario you came up with.

I merely suggested that your theory doesn't hold water in view of widely know evidence to the contrary.

[Lancey Howard]

Excellent post. Thanks for the reply.

[pabianice]

[Spokane]

Rush needs to apologize for calling these guys phony.

[2001convSVT]

Scott Thomas Beauchamp, just another Phony-American.

[Theresawithanh]

W-O-W! Great read, long, but well worth the trouble! Bet Mr. wannabe Hemingway is real popular with his fellow soldiers.

I think all the (unintelligible) areas in the phone conversation probably had to do with sex and fertilizer.

[Bubba_Leroy]

Fake but inaccurate.

[bcsco]

I can only guess why you want to overlook that well-known fact.

Perhaps Goodness' anniversary date may lend some insight? Welcome aboard, Goodness. Time to feel the heat?

[tracer]

He’ll probably bag a top job at the New York Times....

[Fawnn]

My Goodness, it appears we may have a troll in our midsts. ;)

[knews_hound]

Just when the Moonbats thought this had gone away, it rears its ugly head yet again.

Take the time to read the PDFs.  This piece of excrement has been caught and caught good.

The editors from TNR are in a panic because Beauchamp basically tells them that he simply will not reply to any request they make.  In his words "I'm not saying anything to anyone anymore" ( a real wordsmith as you can see).

This needs to be pursued aggressively by new media.

A vetted, promoted and featured "Author" hired in a sleazy handshake deal with the assistance of one of their staff to produce fantasy articles slamming the War and by Proxy, the Bush admin. is ripe for harvesting even MORE bad press for the Left.

Pound this like nails.

Do not let the New Republic off the hook.

Cheers,

knewshound

knewshounds blog 

[bcsco]

Na Na Na Na Na, got there first :)

[CatoRenasci]

Nice, I hadn’t seen that before - should have been published in all the MSM during the 2004 election campaign - Swift Boaters were quite right about Kerry!

[George W. Bush]

What I didn't expect was Drudge getting internal memos. What else can he get?

Many have no idea how powerful Drudge really is.

Drudge has enormous influence over the national media agenda. He may be more powerful than the editors at the NYT and WaPo combined.

They were just discussing this on Tucker Carlson's show yesterday, referring to it as the media's dirty little secret.

Matt is a media kingpin, a figure of the media establishment. Not some maverick with a puny website and an occasional scoop.