Congrats to Bob Owens (Confederate Yankee) for this outstanding report blowing the lid off of the never ending lies of The New Republic regarding their fiction-writer-in-Baghdad, Scott Thomas Beauchamp.
Bob Owens has this exclusive report up at Pajamas Media this morning. It is a must read for those of you keeping track of the Iraq-as-Fiction meme put forth by TNR, Thomas and his wife — TNR “fact-checker” Elspeth Reeve.
Army Checkmates The New Republic – Bob Owens at Pajamas Media
While Scott Thomas Beauchamp has repeatedly turned down interview requests—including one as recently as last week— Pajamas Media’s Bob Owens, who runs the PJM network blog Confederate Yankee , was enterprising enough to arrange an email interview with Major Cross. [GP Ed. Note – Major John Cross – Executive Officer, 1-18 Infantry (Vanguards), Second (Dagger) Brigade Combat Team, First Infantry Division – was the lead investigating officer of the Beauchamp allegations.]
In a wide-ranging interview, Maj. Cross provides surprising new evidence about Beauchamp and the editorial process at the New Republic.
Owens’ conclusions from his exclusive interview with Major Cross:
– Private Scott Beauchamp did not reveal that he was “Scott Thomas,” author of “Shock Troops,” until he was asked to sign a second sworn statement. It was after he signed this statement that his identity was revealed in The New Republic.
– Major Cross has seen no evidence of any sort of fact checking by The New Republic’s editors prior to publication, a sentiment shared by Army Public Affairs Officers in both Iraq and Kuwait. It is also worth noting that TNR editors have refused to publish PAO statements that contradict their claims.
– Major Cross was unable to find anyone in Beauchamp’s squad, platoon, or company that would corroborate the stories he told in “Shock Troops.”
– Beauchamp was the subject of a second investigation, which found him guilty of violating his unit’s operational security for which he could have been thrown out of the Army.
The U.S. Army and the soldiers in Beauchamp’s unit seem to have been very forgiving of his fraudulent stories and potentially dangerous operational security violations.
This is the third time in recent memory that a New Republic writer has been persuasively charged with fabrication. Stephen Glass, who was found to have made up 27 of the 41 articles he wrote for the magazine, is perhaps the most famous case. Glass’ exploits were chronicled in the movie “Shattered Glass.” The Glass incident severely damaged the credibility of the magazine, and should have led to far more stringent editorial standards…it obviously did not.
It is doubtful that editor Franklin Foer and The New Republic deserve yet another chance, and that readers will be as loyal to the magazine as the military has been to Beauchamp.
Clearly heads should roll at The New Republic…. and that ever-on-the-wrong-side Andrew Sullivan should apologize to the US military for defending “Scott Thomas” and TNR’s cover-up.
-Bruce (GayPatriot)
Cue keogh/gil in 3, 2, 1… “But TNR found 5 soldiers to corroborate Beauchamp’s stories. Are you calling them liars?”
No, gil. We’re calling TNR liars. Read the PJM article. Carefully. Beauchamp recanted. TNR’s after-the-fact fact-checking was a whitewash, in which TNR asked its “corroborating” people intentionally vague questions (if not misleading). I am 100% certain that TNR found 5 soldiers to corroborate that there is country called Iraq, that they are in it fighting a war, etc.
Hopefully, that gets that out of the way.
P.S. Bruce, I’m sure you’re not holding your breath re: Andrew Sullivan. But, nice that you mentioned it. He should apologize.
Michelle Malkin also has the goods on TNR. Just FYI. Her blog is firing both barrels – you go, girl!
Regards,
Peter H.
So your charge ILC, is that TNR fabricated the content of their corroboration story?
That would be amazing if true. If true, indeed the publication should be shut down for not being open to their failings.
However, why would anyone trust Confederate Yankee?
That site has been completely discredited for using false charges to slander in the past, why do you trust them now? I strongly suggest you wait to pass judgment instead of relying on that site of “fiction.”
Further, GP, if you demand an apology from Andrew Sullivan, you yourself should apologize to the AP for your complicity in the Jamil Hussien story…Malkin did, Have you?
Confederate Yankee brought that upon you once, why are you willing to hitch yourself to that wagon again?
So your charge ILC, is that TNR fabricated the content of their corroboration story?
The author admits that he lied, therefore the corroboration doesn’t exist and is irrelevant. You can’t have witnesses to something that never happened. In what alternate universe would it be otherwise?
My charge is this – which you can read for yourself, but apparently you need it repeated:
Read it again and again, gil, until it sinks in.
As for:
I quite agree. TNR’s misbehavior is truly amazing – especially given that TNR has already been caught on it so many times.
One would truly expect TNR to have learned from the comparable Ruth Shalit and Stephen Glass scandals. It’s astounding and outrageous, that they have not.
As for:
And that, for the record, is flatly untrue. But, we can all see that gil lives in a world of wishful thinking. (Wishing the Beauchamp allegations were somehow true; etc.)
And by the way, gil: that is some nice hand-waving 😉 Do change the subject to Confederate Yankee, by all means, or to Brazilian go-go boys if it gets you through the night.
And with that… I have to go; I leave gil in others’ capable hands.
or to Brazilian go-go boys if it gets you through the night.
I think gil would fancy Venezuelan go-go dictators.
“Do change the subject to Confederate Yankee”
Change the subject?
Hardly. Confederate Yankee IS a discredited blogging publication that makes false charges, flawed investigations, and has misled the rightie blogesphere in the past.
Yet, the rightists are relying on a discredited blogger to say we should not trust the discredited TNR – Strange –
Further, GP demands apologies but offers none of his own for spreading past slanders based solely on Confederate Yankee lies.
The majority of the STB “reporting” has been done by the fiction factory Confederate Yankee. And it is a source for article in the posting, therefore its hardly changing the subject to point out the source has led you astray before.
As for the Jamil Hussein story that gil is referring to, all AP was ever able to show was that such a person exists/existed. They never backed up the claim he reported of the people being burned to death outside mosques or some such. The lefties have latched onto the fact the stringer exists and claim it shoots down the entire story, just as they tried with Beauchamp, claiming that since Beauchamp exists, the people challenging the veracity of his stories have been shot down in flames. Simple dishonesty. For what it’s worth, I think Confederate Yankee is doing an excellent job investigating these fictions.
And wasn’t Hussein arrested for leaking to the media? Real stand up guy the liberals are counting on for “the truth”.
Keep grasping at straws, gilly.
Here’s something easy for you to explain, gilly:
How can one corroborate nothing? Further, how can five people corroborate nothing?
#12
Another example of Confederate Yankee silencing a critic through “outing” and exposure
And GP gladly jumped on board.
Another example of Confederate Yankee silencing a critic through “outing” and exposure
Help me out here, gilly. If the Iraq Interior Ministry and the AP reported his name and where he worked, how in the hell did Confederate Yankee and/or Bruce “out” him?
Further, if you violate the law, or at least violate the conditions of your employment, don’t you think you should be held accountable? Or should he get a pass as liberal heroes always do?