“Scott Thomas:” The new Winter Soldier?
Let me make one thing clear at the outset: To question the veracity of a soldier’s accounts of war atrocities in Iraq is not to question that such atrocities ever happen. They do. But when such accusations are made pseudonymously, punctuated with red flags and adorned with incredible embellishment, the only responsible thing to do is to raise questions about his identity and agenda without fear or apology–and demand answers.
For the past few days, debate has bubbled on the right side of the blogosphere about “Scott Thomas,” an alleged soldier serving in Baghdad who penned a piece for The New Republic about war atrocities he allegedly witnessed. Michael Goldfarb at the Weekly Standard first raised questions and asked bloggers to look into the charges. Milbloggers dissect Thomas’s tales: Read Greyhawk and Blackfive, where troops at the FOB where “Scott Thomas” is allegedly stationed respond to Thomas’s claims that a female civilian contractor with a “more or less melted” face works there and was ridiculed by cruel soldiers. Read them all.
At The American Thinker, Ray Robison wonders if “Scott Thomas” is an anti-war agitator/nutroots poster child named Clinfton Hicks.
At Villainous Company, Cassandra compares Thomas to the old Winter Soldier and points to this passage in Goldfarb’s piece ripping into Thomas’s anecdote about the alleged mocking of the female civilian contractor allegedly burned by an IED:
Is it possible that American soldiers would be so sadistic when confronted by a badly burned woman, who may be a fellow soldier? Well, yes: Anything is possible when it comes to human depravity. But consider: these are enlisted men who, by the author’s own account, don’t know who this woman is or what rank she might hold. (Incidentally, wouldn’t soldiers be able to distinguish a soldier from a contractor–especially if she is a regular at the chow hall?) Would they really ridicule her with raised voices in a public place, on “one especially crowded day”?…
Power Line wants TNR to explain.
Hot Air coverage here and here.
Paging Media Mythbusters…
See what others have said
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Trackbacks
- Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator
- Bill's Bites
- Where to go for info about a possible media myth « Bookworm Room
- Hot Air » Blog Archive » Come clean, New Republic
- Dean's World
- A Blog For All
- Military Motivator
- Ivory Dome » Weekend Links
- The Florida Masochist
- Another Leftist Plant in the Military Outed at ROK Drop
- Cao's Blog
- Wake up America
- Serious Questions Deserve Serious Answers: Scott Thomas and TNR at Conservative Times--Republican GOP news source.
- SWJ Blog
- New Republic follow-up… at Amused Cynic
- Blue Star Chronicles
- Michelle Malkin » The “Scott Thomas” saga continued
- What Ails American Media « The Sophistry
- Adventures In Manufactured Controversies « ChenZhen’s Chamber
- Soldiers Who Tell the Truth Must Be Destroyed at Antony Loewenstein
- This Is How The Right Wing Supports The Troops « Mercury Rising 鳯女
- Confederate Yankee
- Another Leftist Plant in the Military Outed at Forward Deployed
- BlogKripa
- Only Politics by Anna » “Scott Thomas:” The new Winter Soldier?
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This story stinks to high Heaven. The account of the American Soldier wearing a human skull for a hat all day long smacks of Apocalypse Now fantasies. The Winter Soldier comparison is right on the money, too.
This reminds me also of a story Ollie North was talking about back during Rathergate. He was referring to a story by CBS News in 1988 by Rather himself. There were tales of the most brutal atrocities committed by American Special Forces “Tiger Teams”, slaughtering whole villages of innocent people, in order to then blame the atrocities on the Viet Cong.
As it turns out, the guys interviewed by Rather were not in the Special Forces or even in the country at the time. One guy was just a Navy stockboy in the Phillipines or something like that.
Ollie was saying that he proved this was all false claims by people with agendas, and CBS never apologized or even acknowledged that the story was inaccurate. Do you remember that, Michelle?
I can’t wait for this to be disproved.
On the flip-side - I also can’t wait to hear of disciplinary action to be taken against these individuals IF any of this is true.
We’ve either got a leftie liar or a few dishonorable soldiers…..
I’m guessing it’s the former.
How cowardly: Put your name to your text. Let sunlight in where you hide in shadows. As we used to say, years ago when someone lied, cheated, stole and otherwise didn’t assist his/her fellow military types, ‘you are a puke.’
I can’t help but think “you are NOT a military person.”
You know, this problem is inherent with the media. There is no way – ever – to make a person want to be ethical. The media coverage of war is to scoop a story before someone else and the more gore (especially from our troops) the better. After all, who wants to pay a reporter for scooping that half the country of Iraq (the women) has been set free! Who wants to scoop how the soldiers are giving up their rations and cookies from home to the kids on the streets. Now, a skull as a helmet – that is news (even if it is made up) and will earn a paycheck and a byline.
I will tell you who wrote it John Francois Kerry don’t you recognize the traiterous writing:-)
All I can say is this story stinks of BS. just keep throwing chum to the nutroots Scott Thomas. It makes my blood boil knowing that there are Americans who hate both their counrty and the military that protects them. God Bless the USA and our military, may God protect them all who are in harms way, my God keep them protected in the palm of his hand. Semper Fi.
hmmmm … to use a skull as a helmet it would have to be an awfully large skull or you would have to have an awfully small head yourself … sounds like a perfect fit for this pea-brained idiot … give me my metal helmet and kevlar insert over a skull any day of the week … so stupid it is hard to accept anyone would even start to believe such a piece of crap … hope the bloggers can discredit this one before it gets any more play
As a Marine, I can tell you that military guys often think things that aren’t funny at all are very funny under certain circumstances.
However, I cannot imagine any of the fine people that I served with making jokes about a comrade (regardless of military or contractor status) who obviously made a humongous sacrifice for her country. First, it’s the ultimate in disrespect. Second, these soldiers without a doubt know that they could be next. This is something that just WOULDN’T BE DONE.
God bless this woman. I am grateful for her service to our country.
I think the debunking has started in earnest now. Michelle has this thread going and links to Blackfive and Mudville Gazette, who are both outstanding blogs.
When you get the Uncle Jimbo beatdown, there will be some quotable stuff there!
Like this headline:
That guy is alot of fun to read.
It’s incredible the depths the America haters will go to to dishonor our soldiers.
Absolutely sounds like BS to me.
That’s what struck me too. Sounds like Martin Sheen or somebody thought that up. That’s not how the military does it’s business, not without fellow soldiers putting a stop to it. It’s pretty sick.
Thanks for being a U.S. Marine!
When I first read the account of the woman with the melted face and side of her head, I suspected that it was a hoax. There was a story — maybe about a year ago? — about a servicewoman who suffered exactly these injuries in Iraq. There was particular picture of her, lying in a hospital bed stateside, with her damaged face and missing a side of her head. The picture, I believe, was shown in Powerline and/or Wizbang. It was an inspirational story, because she was recovering beyond expectations. I don’t remember all of the specifics, but it was clear that she was in no shape for a forward deployment and would not be for a long time to come, if ever. My suspicion is that “Scott Thomas” has used this real-life story in a different guise to slander US troops.
My money is on Jeff Englehart. This sounds like some of his drivel.
Kevin from Ohio in Virginia
As fellow Marines we both know that anyone starting to do something like this BS would be up in front of the old man so fast it would make his head swim and would not be tolerated …
exactly right.
If anyone needs a reminder, here’s one:
This is just silly moonbat delusions on the evils of Americans.
I suspect that Scott Thomas is Muhammed ali abdobajob. Sound like another disinformation campaign by the enemy.
Oh, and those of you who might think me wrong about disinformation, let’s not forget about the fauxtography from supposedly credible reporters.
This is purely leftist agitprop. If the left can’t have a My Lai Massacre, then they’ll invent one. Also, has anyone noticed that the Haditha “Massacre” cases are falling apart? If we can expose this lie, then we should follow-up with TNR photoshops.
Brian72,
You’re right, Uncle J is a hoot. I’ll say what I said at Blackfive….for these things to happen and not have an NCO or officer snatch them up by the short hairs…..as a former Sgt. I say, no freakin’ way!!!
Damn right, DesertLover. The old man would HAVE THEIR ASSES. They’d be lucky to get off with an administrative punishment, and more than likely he’d nail ‘em with the maroon harpoon - and justifiably so. Then, he’d hand them back over to their squad leaders for some, um… solid training.
Kevin from Ohio in Virginia
Attitude Reinforcement and Refresher Training …
sounds quite appropriate to me …
#21 and #22
Back in my day it was called wall to wall counseling……
Just another Kerrytale.
Old Tanker
Actually I was trying to be PC … you know … Pure Crap … in reality in my day it would have just been a good old fashioned blanket party …
wow… that sounds like so much bs I’m not even going to mention it to my husband.
He gets a tad umm… irritated when Marine Honor is trashed…
There are always a few bad apples in any bunch. But unless things have changed drastically in the last few years… the ’soldiers’ who commited crimes like that would have mysteriously died in ‘training accidents’. The other men certainly wouldn’t ‘cover’ for them. A bar fight? Sure. Rape/torture/murder. heck no. Guy would never make it to court.
So… sounds like bs to me. I’ll be interested in reading what it boils down to after some real investigation.
3Steps
To be fair here we do not know the military affiliation of any of this …
unfortunately the MSM tends to always say “soldier” no matter the service involved … another form of disrespect for the military as far as I am concerned ..
just got some of us former Marines here responding to the absurd story …
If this actually happened, there would be a number of soldiers up on charges.
Not the ones that said this crap, but the ones who proceeded to beat teh snot out of them for saying it.
It’s utter bull, and while I understand that POS like that might serve, I doubt they are THAT stupid to also say it outloud in a crowded mess hall…
3Steps
My understanding is that he supposed to be Army…..notice I say supposed to be…….
swj719AWG
With all due respect …
I believe most of the comments have been in reference to any of this actually happening and how it would be responded to by the other members of the individuals immediate unit and that units command …
NOT SOMEONE SAYING THESE THINGS IN A POST ON THE INTERNET …
DesertLover,
I think swj719AWG is reffering to the story about ridiculing an IED victim (female at that) in a crowded mess hall. If that had actually happened the individuals involved would have gotten a mudhole stomped in their backside, then walked dry……….
Old Tanker
OK … I understand … guess I was still thinking on the other part of the post about the “skull” crap … thanks for straightening me out …
Hillary is for Premature Pull Out? that sounds more like Bill (GRIN)
I’m calling it…
http://militarymotivator.blogspot.com/2007/07/scott-thomas-revealed.html
Lets put it this way: he’s just as valid and reasonable a speaker as John Kerry about atrocities and his stories are just as true.
The sad part is that, knowing this is the internet age, they know that they have to keep his identity secret or people might figure out that this guy is likely the next Jesse MacBeth. Keep him anonymous and nobody can debunk his stories that way!
This was on the New Republic website:
Several conservative blogs have raised questions about the Diarist “Shock Troops,” written by a soldier in Iraq using the pseudonym Scott Thomas. Whenever anybody levels serious accusations against a piece published in our magazine, we take those charges seriously. Indeed, we’re in the process of investigating them. I’ve spoken extensively with the author of the piece and have communicated with other soldiers who witnessed the events described in the diarist. Thus far, these conversations have done nothing to undermine–and much to corroborate–the author’s descriptions. I will let you know more after we complete our investigation.
–Franklin Foer
Stay tuned.
What a line of crap…
if they honestly intended to check out his veracity shouldn’t they have done it BEFORE they published it???
It’s all bs.
It’ll be very interesting to see what happens with all of this. As others have said, at the very best it is a case of fraud, and at the very worst, it might go a long way to getting those who committed the alleged atrocities tried and convicted. If true, it’s the sort of thing we can’t sweep under the rug. If false, it’s the sort of thing we have to quickly expose.
Bingo. In any instance in which the possibility of journalistic fraud exists, a publication that once employed Stephen Glass is automatically guilty until proven innocent in my book.
I see from reading the latest thread on the Power Line blog that TNR is sticking with its story: claiming that its discussions with other anonymous sources corroborates the original pseudonymous source.
Sure. “Peter Pan really did commit atrocities - Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny swear to it!”
Until a real person stands behind these libels, for TNR’s editors to expect others to prove a negative - when they have plainly demonstrated in the past that they have no credibility - is unreasonable to the point of chutzpah.
And even in the highly unlikely event that “Scott Thomas” is real, then my next educated guess is that we have another Jesse Macbeth on our hands.
When I first heard about this story on Hugh Hewitt’s show the other day, my first reaction was, “Ah, Stephen Glass must be back at The New Republic!”
Let’s just say I’m very skeptical about this story.
Boy did this guy pick the wrong place to write his stories on. I was at Camp Falcon, JD Johannes and Michael Yon were all at Camp Falcon. We’ve all said the same thing. This sounds like bs.
I wrote the Public Affairs Officer and a couple of soldiers over at 1-4 Cav. I got the following official response from the Army:
Hey Matt:
Per COL Boylan’s request, I have prepared the following:
1. There was no mass grave found during the construction of any of our coalition outposts in the Rashid District at any time. Such a discovery would have prompted an investigation and close attention paid at levels higher than ours to making sure that the victims were properly interred and attempts would have been made to determine their identities. It is difficult to fathom that a unit’s leadership would condone Soldiers disrespecting the remains of anyone in the fashion described.
2. Due to the threat of IEDs, our combat vehicles are driven professionally and in control at all times. To be driving erratically so as to hit dogs or other things would be to put the entire vehicle’s crew at risk and would be gross dereliction of duty by the noncommissioned officer or officer in charge of the vehicle. Drivers aren’t allowed to simply free-wheel their vehicles however they see fit, and they are *not* allowed to be moved anywhere with out a vehicle commander present to supervise the movement. Therefore- claims of vehicles leaving the roadways to hit animals are highly dubious, given the very real threat of IEDs and normal standards of conduct.
3. As for the alleged woman with severe burn scars, we have nobody matching that description here at FOB Falcon. As Soldiers, we practice the value of Respect: “Treat people as you want to be treated.” If the blogger and his friends can’t live the Army value of respect, I have little doubt that someone around them who does would have made an on-the-spot correction. The Falcon dining facility is not a spacious one. Anyone being rude, loud or raucous calls immediate attention to himself. It is hard to fathom that anyone would be able to get away with such callous behavior without somebody intervening and stopping it from happening.
I have been “studying” such reports and as Michelle has stated that some atrocities do occur, they are documentable.
All others and most of them are Jihadi bloggers…
http://takeourcountryback-snooper.blogspot.com/2007/07/jihadi-trolls-and-bloggers.html