Report: Beauchamp recants Update: TNR responds Update: Michael Goldfarb parries Update: MSM coverage…NYT files, WaPo follows
Update 8/7 9:20pm Eastern. The NYTimes files a story on the latest developments. It closes with this:
In an e-mail message, Mr. Foer said, “Thus far, we’ve been provided no evidence that contradicts our original statement, despite directly asking the military for any such evidence it might have,” adding, “We hope the military will share what it has learned so that we can resolve this discrepancy.”
WaPo’s story here.
More from milblogger Juliette Ochieng at Baldilocks:
My problem with Beauchamp is that he, via TNR, put forth as truth anecdotes which portrayed the military in the opposite manner. I keep repeating that Beauchamp’s anecdotes sounded implausible simply because no formally designated leader–trained to act to correct such breach of military discipline–stepped up to make the necessary corrections. Such leaders are an integral part of the military’s justice system–and its honor. Had the Beauchamp anecdotes actually occurred with no such subsequent correction, the idea of a rogue US Armed Forces, composed of stupid-brutal members, would have gained that much more traction. This would have been no small thing.
I contend that the Beauchamp chronicles, small though they may have seemed, were like drops of water on a rock; intended to slowly wear down the American public’s high opinion of the military and, therefore, the military’s mission in Iraq and Afghanistan. And that’s why this “tempest” deserved every bit of the scrutiny it received.
Update 8/7 4:25pm Eastern. Another MNF-I statement via Op-For.
And Michael Goldfarb responds to TNR with questions that have yet to be answered.
More messages not returned and comments declined in this Columbia Tribune piece, via Dan Riehl.
Update 8/7 3:20pm Eastern. Video – Fox News report here. Bob Owens weighs in here: “Showing poor-form, TNR editors seem to be laying the framework to claim that they could have proven their contentions, gosh-darn it, if that mean old military would just let them dig into the military investigation, Beauchamp’s personnel records be damned. Is there a moral to this story? Perhaps. If you’re going to stick to your guns, make sure they don’t fire square-backed bullets.”
Rusty at the Jawa Report: “The worst punishment given to this guy will be from the men and women who have to put up with his presence.”
Update 8/7 2:30pm Eastern. TNR’s terse response…
We’ve talked to military personnel directly involved in the events that Scott Thomas Beauchamp described, and they corroborated his account as detailed in our statement. 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.” He added, “If someone is speaking anonymously [to The Weekly Standard], they are on their own.” When we pressed Lamb for details on the Army investigation, he told us, “We don’t go into the details of how we conduct our investigations.”
See USAToday:
This morning, military officials said their review is over. “The investigation is complete and the allegations from PVT Beauchamp are false,” Maj. Steven Lamb, a spokesman for Multi National Division-Baghdad, says in an e-mail to On Deadline. “Anything that may or may not happen from his actions are personnel related and we don’t share that publicly.”
Update 8/7 1:03pm Eastern. Read Blackfive.
More: In case you missed it, Jeff Goldstein analyzes the semiotics of Scott Thomas Beauchamp.
Rick Moran offers a cautionary note, to which I respond by re-linking Bryan Preston on why military bloggers and veterans care.
Update 8/7 10:45am Eastern. Notice how in defending his criticism that my blogging on this topic has been “ludicrous,” this supposedly “reasonable” conservative doesn’t bother to link a single one of my posts. Ludicrous, indeed. Also see the comments thread. You’ll enjoy Ace and Jim Treacher’s presence.
And here’s a sneak preview of the cover of Beauchamp’s upcoming memoir.
Update 8/7 9:45am Eastern. A diagnosis of pre-traumatic stress syndrome.
And now, for some no-B.S. news, reporting, and analysis on the war and the troops: The Dawn Patrol.
***
Is it time for Shattered Glass, Part Deux? Photoshop thanks to Suitably Flip.
Michael Goldfarb at the Weekly Standard’s Worldwide Standard blog reports tonight:
THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned from a military source close to the investigation that Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp–author of the much-disputed “Shock Troops” article in the New Republic’s July 23 issue as well as two previous “Baghdad Diarist” columns–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.
Separately, we received this statement from Major Steven F. Lamb, the deputy Public Affairs Officer for Multi National Division-Baghdad:
An investigation has been completed and the allegations made by PVT Beauchamp were found to be false. His platoon and company were interviewed and no one could substantiate the claims.
According to the military source, Beauchamp’s recantation was volunteered on the first day of the military’s investigation. So as Beauchamp was in Iraq signing an affidavit denying the truth of his stories, the New Republic was publishing a statement from him on its website on July 26, in which Beauchamp said, “I’m willing to stand by the entirety of my articles for the New Republic using my real name.”
How’s that vacation going, TNR editors?
Goldfarb’s parting questions: “Now that the military investigation has concluded, the great unanswered question in the affair is this: Did Scott Thomas Beauchamp lie under oath to U.S. Army investigators, or did he lie to his editors at the New Republic? Beauchamp has recanted under oath. Does the New Republic still stand by his stories?
Ace breaks out the flaming skull and a quote about Franklin Foer that bears a second look. Or a first look, for all the Johnny-come-latelys now changing tune and jumping on the bandwagon.
***
Milblogger Baldilocks weighs in.
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Trackbacks
- Bill's Bites
- Beauchamp Admits His Stories Were "Exaggerations and Falsehoods"
- baldilocks
- "Beauchamp recants"
- The Latest on Scott Thomas Beauchamp - The Fighting GOP
- The Latest on Scott Beauchamp, Part 2 - The Fighting GOP
- Cao's Blog
- …gettingpaidtowatch » Beauchamp Recants Entire Work to Army Investigators
- Beauchamp Comes Clean at Forward Deployed
- Don Surber » Blog Archive » Why is there a market for lies?
- The Leftist Confederacy | Political Vindication
- Beauchamp: No! I was lying to TNR, not to the U.S. Army, really! « Volunteer Opinion Journal
- Beauchamp admits to bullsh*t at DPGI v.3
- Dinocrat » Blog Archive » How very odd
- Solomonia
- Heading Right » Blog Archive » The Leftist Confederacy
- Neocon News » Scott Thomas Beauchamp back to school?
- Right Wing Nut House » A RESPONSE TO CRITICS OF MY LAST POST
- scott thomas-dot-us » Unwitting Puppets
- January 20th, 2009–The death of the left « THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS
- Bill's Bites
- Wake up America-BUSTED
- Riehl World View
- WINTER SOLDIER II « Texas Hold ‘Em Blogger
- A Blog For All
- Michelle Malkin » Winter Soldier Syndrome
- The Midpoint » Reductio Ad Retardum
- Babalu Blog
- January 20th, 2009–The death of the left | THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS
- Beauchamp admits to bullsh*t « DPGI - the aftermath
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Categories: Scott Thomas Beauchamp, They don't support the troops
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ouch.
THAT’S gonna leave a mark…
OK … now we have more than one story line on this guy … so … if he lied to the military investigators he will be court martialed and dishonorably discharged … if he lied to the TNR editors for the purpose of getting paid for his fabricated crap he could be at the least sued regarding the payments or at worst charged with fraud … sounds like he has several good opportunities to get just what he deserves for his actions …
Michelle, your above question should have been followed by at least one snort! (lol).
The only item remaining on this story is the epilogue.
zorro
Yep … somewhere I hear “TAPS” playing
I hate when that happens!! It’s amazing though and I’m seeing more and more of it.
I was leaving a comment on a “leftist” blog and one person wrote that “Btw, what did Scott Beauchamp lie about? Because the big right-wing lie *used* to be that he didn’t exist.”
I “almost” feel bad about writing the NA NA NAAH NAH NAAAAH NAAAAHHHH.
I’m more mature than that though. Thanks to everybody for actually investigating the facts.
We didn’t say he didn’t exist. Just that we were doubtful until we had a full name. And that his terms showed a lack of knowledge.
But no matter. There’s proof somewhere that he recanted, if he did. That’s enough for me.
Enjoy that dishonorable discharge. Walt did ok after his USMC dishonorable discharge, but you ain’t no Disney…
Goofy maybe….
Hmph, spend enough time looking through his blog and it was easy to see.
What a tool.
Okay: So Beauchamp had to be exposed, but I say let it end there. I for one see little cause to rejoice in this matter. I often read about the (truly) base posts in places like Daily Kos. Seems some folks in here are pretty close to rejoicing at another’s downfall: What is there to celebrate here? Has anyone in here never messed up big time before?
Not even close #10
Yup – I know I’m pretty happy he confessed to being a lair!
And the slimeball only fell from a false perch totally of his own making.
If you think it’s so awful here you’d blow a gasket to hear what the troops – whom he smeared for his own sociopathic ambition – have to say.
But why did TNR choose to believe Fauxchamp when it was so easy to prove him wrong? They belived him because they wanted to. They wanted to believe that U.S. Military Personnel commit atrocities on a regular basis, anyone who wanted to believe otherwise would have done some serious fact-checking before slandering our troops in a time of war.
Why do moonbats believe that President Bush lied us into this war? Why do they believe that he is simultaneously a moron and an evil genius? Because they want to.
Why do the Dems. in congress believe that we can’t win in Iraq and that the Bush Administration is corrupt? Because they want to.
These groups base their policies on the War in Iraq, their opinion of America and their opinion of President Bush on what they want to be true, what their prejudices tell them, not on what really is true. They are no different than any other prejudiced person, they can’t be reasoned with because facts don’t matter.
This episode should cause these people to step back and take a look at what they are willing to believe and why.
But it won’t.
Runningonfumes, Beauchamp is an Beau-TRAITOR. Aid and comfort to the enemy via TNR as proxy. He got outed as a big fat liar. Actually, I want to see what this ’smidgen’ of truth is. I bet that ’smidgen’ isn’t even true.
As an American, hell yeah I celebrate his demise. He’s vile and traitorous.
What comes around goes around. I suspect he’ll get what he deserves.
I’m with BigCandy…..one look at the blog and ya gotta know the boy is a flake.
#10 – “Has anyone in here never messed up big time before?” – Well, I once was a hour and a half late picking up my mother-in-law from the airport. Man that was bad
As a Marine who served in Iraq, I want this story told. The MSM types already swept this story under the rug. Thank you again, to the blogosphere Goddess. I would never speak ill of my fellow Marines. If I found law breaking , I would report it to my chain of command, not release it to a media site.
29Victor said:
Which makes one wonder how they think they could reason with terrorists who are just as predujiced and unreasonable as they are …
Nice post …
Heh. But somehow I suspect that didn’t involve lying to denounce our troops as psychotic babykillers.
“You can not reason a man out of a position he was reasoned into in the first place.”
“I’m with BigCandy…..one look at the blog and ya gotta know the boy is a flake.”
meant to say Bad Candy…..sorry about that BC…it’s been a long day.
Off topic, but funny.
from the Guardian UK -
Islamic Rage Boy said:
I’m not happy being called Islamic Rage Boy
If Franklin Foer doesn’t tender his resignation IMMEDIATELY along with Valerie Pla…er…Ellie Reeves, The New Republic can just never come back from vacation. Unlike Stephen Glass, Beauchamp wasn’t telling them anything they didn’t want to hear or was it that he was writing exactly what was expected?
Is it so far-fetched to suggest that these “dispatches” were originating Stateside and Beauchamp was merely a uniform to provide bona fides? Too bad those meddling kids of the Scooby Ga…er…The Weekly Standard et al had to ruin their perfect plan!
The Treason Media won’t report about this and if they do, they’ll frame it as another “Swift Boating” frame job by the “right-wing noise machine” and the VRWC. The FACTS that these stories were false will be obscured by the smoke and spin about how the war is lost and Dubya is unpopular and this is all Rovian hoodoo.
On August 6th, 2007 at 11:28 pm, runningonfumes said:
Damn right I am rejoicing! I am rejoicing that he was exposed and now gets to reap the consequences of his actions. His actions were devastating and taxing on men in the battlefield. They have enough bullets to dodge without having to hear about a knife wound to the back.
Yes we all make mistakes, but this was a deliberate, malicious, and disgusting attempt to push down those whom he was once a “brother in arms” with, and use their war rattled backs as a stepping stone. No. That is not a mistake. That is sociopathic!
DesertLover,
Thanks.
I once took care of a guy who was an unabashed racist. I learned a great deal from him about how far an otherwise very intelligent and logical person is capable of going to maintain their prejudices. Any news story or anecdote about someone from another racial group would be twisted to fit into his preconceived notion of that group. Facts that disproved his beliefs were either ignored or regarded as anomalies.
I am a white, male conservative Christian. I live in a very, very liberal part of the country and have had lefty acquaintances that I have know for years, whom I thought knew me well, whom I had helped through tough times and who had come to me for advise, open up and tell me all about myself. They have told me what I think about the poor, about minorities, about Bush, about the war, about God and about non-Christians. They will tell me exactly what I believe and why. And they will be wrong on every count. And when I tell them what I really think, they don’t believe me.
On the other hand, I have other lefties whom I have gotten to be close friends with who have really gotten to know and trust me and they are, without fail, shocked when they discover that I care about the poor, that I don’t hate minorities, that I support have valid reasons for supporting Bush and the war. They believe that I’m a good guy, but they still think that the rest of you right-wingers are a bunch of racist loonies.
This is the prejudice of the Left, and the nutroots revel in it and allow it to define their reality until heroes become villains, traitors become patriots and their leaders become their enemies. There is very little difference between them and my old client.
This is a sorry embarrassment. An attempt to be another John Kerry. Really sad. Can you imagine that Kerry set the standard for defeat as success? But that is what he has done.
Well, I am not rejoicing. I have a hard time seeing how this guy’s writings even come close to the damage done by the likes of the WaPo and the NYT when the blew secret operations. This guy is not even a blip on the screen in my book. How many grunts have ever even HEARD of TNR — let alone READ it.
Oh, and by the way: My son is in Afghanistan now and I suspect he has never even heard of Beauchamp and has NO TIME even to think about him.
Let’s move on to getting this mismanaged war fought and won. Let’s focus on why we are not doing anything to Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia for constantly violating Iraq’s borders for the past four years. Let’s push for prosecution of Dana Priest and other MSM reporters that have blown secret programs. Let’s push for the elimination of Moqtar al-Sadr. Let’s push for the rescue of the Korean hostages.
Beauchamp is not worth all the attention he is getting and — again — i take no pleasure in his discomfiture.
If you look at PVT Beauchamps comments in this generation and compare it to LT John Kerry’s comments before the Senate Armed Service Committee, they sound almost idenitical.
Both who deserved to be Courts Martialed, given dishonorable discharges and reap the shame that follows.
The disgrace they have created dishonors the memories of all who came before and served with honor and distinction.
“Dhimtude or Freedom-Your Choice!”
Democrats lie.
He’s a liar one way or another. For those who say we shouldn’t rejoice in his troubles I say, he brought them upon himself and has no one to blame but himself. But the left wants it to be true so badly that it doesn’t matter to them that there isn’t a bit of truth to the article, they’re sure that it probably happened at sometime, somewhere in the WOT.
Frauds are almost always exposed at one time or another. But, like everyone’s already said, this won’t even get a mention in the news. It’ll be like it never happened. Maybe the military should bring this to light with a lawsuit. Not sure if they’ll win anything, but at least it might make some headlines and then maybe TNR will have to answer some questions. It could open up much needed dialogue about the practices in modern journalism.
I understand that Ward Churchill is looking to work with him on his next book. No?
I hope the US Army finds him a nice small, but dank, room in Leavenworth.
Well, No. 26, on one point I agree with you: Beauchamp himself isn’t worth a great deal of angst or attention. He was stopped in his tracks by truth-tellers before he could do much damage, so he has been reduced to insignificance. He was aiming to cause more damage than he did, but failed.
This story is more about the press and its predilections than it is about any single John Kerry wannabe. It’s about exposing the true nature of the mainstream press, which claims to have layers of editorial safeguards in place, to have some lofty interest in telling the truth at all costs, etc., but which in the final analysis isn’t just shoddy and unprofessional, but actually — and demonstrably — disseminates lies. It’s about the absurdity of the media’s self-appointed status as guardians of truth.
Talk to most working journalists, and they wax eloquent about their own Professionalism and Ethics. They strike grand postures as if only They, who are trained in the Edicts of Journalism, are qualified to present Truth. And what are those Edicts? The first is always to verify the basic facts of a story. With Rather, Stephen Glass, Dan Rather, and now this fiasco, it is plain that they’re willing to compromise even that fundamental rule when it suits them.
Journalists are no better truth-tellers than you or I, especially when bias allows them dishonestly to ignore the rules that supposedly govern their own truth-telling when it suits them. That’s crossing the line into PROPAGANDA.
Mainstream journalists like TNR’s editors are self-appointed guardians of truth. Yet they are frequently LIARS. Just think: How much of what we heard during the Vietnam War was exactly like this, before there was a means of checking what reporters said?
Grow up, TNR and MSM. Y’all have no clothes. It’s a new era.
Actualy, I do think that there are many things to celebrate here.
I for one, rejoice in the fact that the “Freedom of the Press” is alive and well, albeit in the form of blogs and people that REALLY DO INVESTIGATE DETAILS.
Scott Beauchamp’s story is just of the iceberg. More importantly, TNR’s lack of investigation into his story is really what the problem is as I see it.
How many times have people used the phrase, “The Right Wing Attack Machine” (See Hillary 48 hours ago). You have people out there who smear a large group of people WITHOUT ANY PROOF.
Here comes Mr. Beauchamp’s story which is the kind of story that TNR is looking for!!! Great, let’s go with it. Forget about the facts.
I do not celebrate that he has now been “outted” as a liar. I am upset that an entire branch of the military is seen as “renegades”, heartless military personel. Why is that?? It’s because somebody took the time to paint a picture that is visualized on the left and his “actual” story fit that picture.
There is LOTS of great works being done in Iraq and there’s lots of stories, both good and bad coming out of there.
I don’t think anybody needs to make them up. Just report them as they are. If you’ve ever read Michael Yon’s stories (Thank you MM for introducing him) about his stay in Iraq, you’d be on the edge of your seat waiting for his next column.
I really don’t need to hear about made up stories about Iraq, there’s plenty of them already. The MSM’s lack of credibility on Iraq is appalling.
Do I rejoice??? Yes, but I rejoice for those that have shown the fortitude to question the stories and to reveal the truth behind them.
I think the most obvious point in this whole sorid affair is that Beauchamp intentionally joined the Army to get a first hand look at the “atrocities” he just knew were happening so he could write his book and make a name for himself.
Trouble is he didn’t find any so he had to make it up. That is the real story … he came up empty handed.
I dissagree. This war has been in the propaganda phase for over three years now. What Beauchamp did is win a major victory in that war. Public opinion will change due to this.
In house punishment? – sure.
Reduction in rank? – ok but still a bit excessive.
Peeling potatos and cleaning plates at the chowhall for a month? – that’s my recomendation.
He did us all a favor, (the liberal press is the one with it’s dirty linen showing), and he did it vollunarily.
This is mitigation in my view.
Let me add that, as a card-carrying member of the MSM — I work for a mainstream daily paper — I can tell you that amongst such folks, it isn’t just knowledge of the military that is lacking. It’s curiosity about the military and what the military is for. To speak with most reporters about military matters is like going up to the average American and holding forth in Greek or Vietnamese. Their minds wander. They retreat into their own heads and wait for you to stop talking. Then, when you’re finished, they return to their preconceived stereotypes of soldiers as: baby killers, murderers, high school dropouts, etc.
Nowhere in the average liberal journalist’s mind does there seem to be a nerve center that processes notions of bravery, honor, self-sacrifice, sense of duty. It is a most interesting thing to observe up close, and a most interesting thing to keep in mind while reading media “coverage” of military matters.
It’s amazing how these foolish people in the MSM actually believe that we’d be better off without a military. It makes no sense whatsoever.
I’m sure michelle has plenty of ammo for these blowhards but, due to the time constraints on the program its impossible for all points and counterpoints to be made.
wow how did that happen ? posted in the wrong thread……
Well I know for a fact that one grunt does read the NR and this greatly disturbed him. My son and I have had a couple of chats over this. This kind of crap is demoralizing to the troops, and word does get back to them.
I am not rejoicing in Beauchamp’s misery inasmuch as I am rejoicing that the truth came out — his pain and misery is a natural consequence. I hope he is so embarrassed that he can’t look a soldier in the eye for a very long time without the sting of shame! Of course this needs exposure. He is now serving as a public example of what happens when you are a liar. Grated I don’t think it’s worth the attention that the likes of amoral bimbos in Hollywood seem to get, but it is worth at least the same amount of attention that the accusations had brought him.
Oh, and I do not disagree with you at all on what you say about the need to deal with the MSM accordingly. I agree 100%!
Sounds like he’s following in Kerry’s footsteps. Denounce our troops with a lie. But will he run for office?
Collin
http://evangelicalperspective.blogspot.com
Heh.
On the NYT’s Sunday Op-Ed page, Frank Rich blithely pooh-poohed the Beauchamp/TNR scandal as a product of right-wing kooks gone wild, mindless “support the troops” types who could not accept the “truthiness” behind Beauchamp’s reports of widespread moral degration among our soldiers.
Two days later, it’s a far different story. Beauchamp’s cred is shattered, as is TNR’s, while the “kooks” are vindicated.
One wonders what Rich’s private reaction has been…
Anyone remember that scene in a Simpsons episode, where Marge is driving the car packed full with the entire family, front seat and back? She looks in the rear-view at elderly Grandpa Abe wedged with the kids in the back seat and asks:
“Grandpa, are you sitting on that apple pie I bought?”
With a pained and uncertain expression of his face, Grandpa answers, “I sure hope so”.
Well, here’s a free clue for Frank Rich, who’s now in an awkward position much akin to Grandpa’s:
Sorry, Frank, but you’re not sitting on an apple pie.
Dunno. I think Dopey might be more accurate.
Darwin wrote, “Trouble is he didn’t find any so he had to make it up.”
That should be the “final answer” when comparing the militant anti-Bush/anti-military activists in the press and behind the leftist blogs, to the US military and those who support and defend it from such slander.
The Haditha Massacre case is falling apart before our very eyes.
The only documented case of US military abuse in Iraq (Abu-Graib) was investigated and published by the Army two months before the American press picked it up. Not much of a “cover-up” there, I’d say.
And so far, every single one of the left’s celebrated “atrocity” whistle-blowers – or whatever you want to call them – has been proven a liar. Every single one.
That’s about all the proof I need in order to know which side is really practicing deception and cover-ups and ethical/professional atrocities.
I am shocked, shocked to find that lying has been occuring the New Republic. How can it be that Scott Thomas Beauchamp confesses to be a liar when the New Republic RIGOROUSLY FACT CHECKED his article and found it checked out? You know, Michelle, it’s almost as if you’re saying that the New Republic is lying, too, and that all this fact checking business was just a bunch of smoke blown to conceal their journalistic malpractice. How can that be? How, how, how? It’s almost as if you’re saying the media is lying to us.
“how did he think he could get away with it?” is a refrain I am starting to hear. He (and TNR) had a scoobie doo moment, they would have got away with it if wasn’t for those troublesome internets!
Why would any sensable thinking person believe any negative reporting?It is like those “reports”from the U.N..Who would,or should believe them?
Journalism,means fair,and balanced reporting.You hear BOTH sides of the story.T.N.R.FAILS in this regard.
The New Republic has issued a statement:
So, you see? They were going to investigate Beauchamp themselves, but then the Army had the audacity to interfere. And its the fault of the pajamas media bloggers for not giving the New Republic time to disprove Beauchamp’s claims.
For the third time…
Jesus, can’t they do a job once and do it right?
Around investigation 3, I would start to wonder why they would feel the need to investigate further. What had the screwed up twice?
And when STB gets out of the military, and says “I never signed a statement recanting, the army is lying”, the Army will then pull out the signed recanting, and haul him back for some fun.
You see, even after you get discharged, you still aren’t our. Minimum 8 years kids. STB doesn’t know what “suck” is yet.
Pvt. Beauchamp joined the military for 2 reasons that he stated. To get money for College and to “lend credit” to his writing. The only problem is when you write fiction it is exactly that, faction, and you blow away any “credibility” your writing has when attempting to pass it off as fact.
Some of the commenst in the TNR post about their “investigation” are priceless…
Especially the ones saying we should appologize for ever having doubted TNR, STB, or Foer…
It’s just funny as hell. If I wanted to waste money, I’d subscribe so I could ask for the right’s collective appology.
Pre traumatic stress syndrome (LOL) God I love reading this blog.
swj719AWG posted this in the other post on Beauchamp, but will also post it here because it applies to those who still want to believe Beauchamp was telling the truth. I got this line for a novel, which was fiction just like Beauchamp writing, but I believe it holds true.
#49, swj719AWG -
My comments were meant in sarcasm. I totally agree with you. TNR had to have seen some inconsistencies when corroborating the incidents Beauchamp claimed. Further, TNR seemed so desperate for a story that denigrates our military, they were willing to accept any point, however insignificant, as pure proof of occurrence.
TNR seems to think the stories are true simply because Beauchamp’s descriptions are plausible. For example, they conclude soldiers do routinely and purposely kill dogs based on the irrelevant fact Bradley Fighting Vehicles could be maneuvered in the manner Beauchamp described.
And because other soldiers have confirmed that human bones are often found in the area, TNR decided that proved beyond doubt Beauchamp’s claim bodies (specifically, bones of children) were desecrated.
The entire TNR statement is complete BS. TNR is refusing to acknowledge their mess, even in the face of Beauchamp being proven a liar. Now they are blaming the military for interfering, and bloggers for intimidating soldiers.
I can see clueless dinosaur Dan Rather not knowing he could be fact checked,but a young, “educated” man not knowing he could be checked is lame.
Of course, it is Bush who lives in a bubble…
Damn, Ace and Treacher really ripped ‘em up!
Makes me proud to be an AoS moron.
As we all learned in ‘04, this story being proven false does not change anything, because we all know that fake stories can still be very accurate. Dan Rather proved this to everyone. So the falseness of the diaries do not detract from their accuracy. All of our soldiers are still like Kurtz in the Heart of Darkness, wearing adornments made from body parts of the natives, reveling in destroying whatever they come across, just for fun. Fake, but still very accurate.
We can also assume that this was all done because Cheney wanted to wear the skull himself, being so enchanted with savagery.
/sarc off
The Beauchamp/Foer implosion is a wonderful example of liberal mental laziness in action.
Foer’s base mental laziness led him to unquestioningly swallow Beauchamp’s lies. Not that it would have made much difference: for the same laziness also ensured that no one at TNR would bother to learn anything practical about the military.
Thus, even when Beauchamp’s writings revealed multiple improbabilities that crossed the line into surrealism, they were too willfully ignorant to recognize the red flags.
The capstone of the Foer’s mental sloth was in allowing himself to believe that just as he was too lazy to verify Beauchamp’s slurs, no one else would bother to check them out, either.
And the result is TNR walking into its own ambush:
Surprise! Beauchamp was a bald-faced liar from the start.
Surprise! Foer & Co. didn’t have a clue that Beauchamp was leading them around by their collective noses, and didn’t want to know.
Surprise! Other people in position to recognize the BS in Beauchamp’s false accusations actually ran down the leads and exposed him.
Surprise! TNR has “Stephen Glass II” on its hands – or maybe that comes as no surprise…
Kudos to Michelle, the Weekly Standard, Ace, and many others for helping to smoke out the weasels behind Beauchamp’s and TNR’s disgraceful conduct. May an O-T-H discharge, plunging circulation numbers and a round of resignations and firings be their rewards.
I believe that Scott Beauchamp was following in the footsteps of John Kerry. His enlistment was a means of gaining credibility to further his ambitions. He considers himself an “elite” and thus his perception of the (liberal) truth is reality. Many elites acknowledge that their errors (Dan Rather) should not interfere with disseminating (dis)information that lacks validity. THEY and only they KNOW what is good for America and those uneducated hicks in flyoverville need to be spoonfed their truth. They want to suppress any analysis of their proclamations and hope their college (un)trained minions will shout hozannas and intimidate skeptics (denyers) who might challenge them. For the elites their opinions should be interpreted as “the science is in and we are right”. “No need for further investigation or analysis”. Elites are the true “flat earthers”. I guess this attitude gave RFK, Jr. the termerity to “quote” (on the Glenn Beck show) the American Heritage dictionary definition of Facism. His definition was a complete fabrication but he thought because HE stated it and with authority it would fly.
Too bad we didn’t have Michelle and others around when Kerry began making the traitorous statements about our Viet Nam veterans bloodthirsty actions. Today we can rejoice that the truth can be determined even if we can’t expose these LIARS in the MSM.
Just the other day I saw a huge list of comments and quotes from Democrats about Iraq, and chemical weapons, and such… It was rather long.
I was wondering if anyone had it to post so I could save it…
Funny….I don’t see any of the liberal defenders posting on this one……….where are they now?
Well, I just had a lovely display of “Liberal tolerance” over on Shakespear’s sister’s site…
Such diversity… *rolls eyes*
So much for civil debate…
By far the most reasoned response to all of this. If Beauchamp’s stories were true, they should have ended there. In retrospect, the fact that they didn’t should probably have been the biggest, reddest flag.
jrlingreenbay wrote,”Funny….I don’t see any of the liberal defenders posting on this one……….where are they now?
Ooops. My response is…
We tired them out with our tag team of them yesterday…
This is all very “John Kerryesque,” just more specific, shades of Vietnam disillusionsim. Amid balooning Anti-Americanism, with many bloggers now willing to openly trash our troops, it probalby won’t be long ’til some are emboldened by the perceived moral high ground of their anti-war stance to spit on soldiers at airports as they return in uniform on their way home from duty overseas. Been there before. Nightmare deja vu.
My apologies to Michelle – I sent her a link to this story from Drudge just a while ago because for some reason, my views of this site this morning didn’t show any stories posted after like, 8:00pm last night…
Suddenly, my server here at work catches up and I’m 5 stories behind everyone else….
My apologies, MM…. I should have known you were way ahead of the curve on this….just a sloooooooow server, I guess.
The negative leftists are the way they are no matter what the war….
Excerpt:
There is more at the link.. Yes, I question their desire to “win”. And will do so as long as I have free speech. Because they aren’t giving me an INDICATION that they are for winning.
Michelle – Ross Douthat has conceded:
She’s right, I’m wrong
Just thought you might like to know.
That statement was a concession? You could’ve fooled me.
TNR cannot and will not retract the story. They continue to pursue their version of the truth, and the fact that a series of lies are intermingled seems to make no difference to them. In the law, Beauchamp’s information would be referred to as the fruit of the poisonous tree and would be dismissed immediately. In the liberal media, there is no such thing as the fruit of the poisonous tree and whatever makes your case is considered acceptable. This is a very dangerous situation because it turns news into propaganda rather than facts and supporting analysis.
The other day, in an OpEd in the Virginia Gazette, the publisher specifically indicated that their were 816 Hispanics of various stripes in the Willliamsburg area. This fact was not sourced and never explained, but it was used as a basis for diminishing the problem with illegal aliens. I suspect that the number can be traced to some document, but that when closely examined, the entire reference breaks down and disintegrates. Nevertheless, the damage was done — and as in the Beauchamp case, cannot or will not be undone.
Oh sure… NOW they care about anonymous sources…
Been there to limmo#66. Wheres MikeB today, I’m loving this. Now I’d really rejoyce if they’d let me tear the Big Red One patch off that trators shoulder… Right down to the bone.
What more do you expect?
I’m certainly not defending Beauchamp or TNR; it is disgraceful that a person would fabricate such egregious stories, and I hope he takes it in the neck for doing so. But the excessive gloating from the right now that he has been exposed belies other motives – namely, holding this story up as symbolic proof that 1) all stories from Iraq that paint the military in a negative light are highly suspect or even flat out false, and 2) there is a conspiracy within the MSM across the entire political spectrum to make our military look bad.
The Rick Moran piece Michelle links to makes a point worth noting: a recent conviction of 4 US soldiers guilty of a crime I won’t recount here makes Beauchamp’s stories sound rather quaint. And from my own admittedly limited window into Iraq [a few political blogs and a few MSM sources], Moran’s link was the first I had heard of this story, while this Beauchamp saga has been all over the media in recent days. I even did a quick search of the convicted soldier’s name over at Kos and didn’t find anything about it. Surely if the goal was to make our military look awful, this story would be front page news.
If that same Vietnam-era crap happens again, I hope that every time it is witnessed it is accompanied by a serious group beat down of the perpetrator. They got away with it in the 60’s and 70’s, I hope we won’t let it happen this time without consequences.
Spit on a veteran around me, and I will be cleaning hippie off my boots for a month. Said veteran is welcome to join in, should he or she so choose. Funny thing is, they probably have to much honor and character to do such a thing. Lucky there are folks like me around who wouldn’t think twice about it
At least down here in Texas, I can’t see the cops being in too big a hurry to break it up, either.
All I’m saying is that by using the phrase
that he’s not conceding much. All he essentially said was “oops I fogot to link to MMs webpage when I made the initial criticisms, but here are the links now, my bad.”
It seems to me that the “ludicrous” claim has a bit of merit, espcially since they were publishing the story after Beauchamp had recanted his story.
Well, taylork, for what it’s worth [which ain't much], my take is that he had previously and erroneously credited Michelle as being the one making the “ludicrous” claims [that this whole thing is part of a conspiracy to make our military look bad], but those claims were actually made by others whom Michelle had cited. I’d say that’s a fair concession, and really about as far as he needs to go, beyond acknowledging that TNR shouldn’t have even published the pieces in the first place without verifying them [which he also states]. The underlying notion that the rest of the right-wing blogosphere has taken this story a step too far still holds plenty of water.
This is not new…again, I ask why is everyone so suprised. The left will use any tool available to support their side of the story. Lying, cheating, stealing…all are weapons in their arsenal. I know very few liberals that have any real honor. This slime and TNR are just part of that mind set. THE ENDS JUSTIFY THE MEANS…This crap happened in Nam. The six o’clock news helped us lose that war. We kicked so much ass in Nam it wasn’t even funny. We kicked Viet Cong butt during Tet and when you listened to the news the next day…you’d have thought we lost…ridiculous…but the more things change…the more they stay the same…the left using the printed word (and web word) to pull the wool over our eyes…I would say shame on them…but they have no shame…
I remember dad talking about Tet when he saw it on TV (wasn’t quite old enough to got enlist yet), and he remembers seeing the TV footage afterwards…
He kept hearing about how they breached the Embassy walls, but to him it just looked like they all got shot and killed soon after.