Via Drudge (liar!):
The DRUDGE REPORT has obtained 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.
You can peruse the documents in pdf form here, here, and here.
From what I can tell from a quick scan of the documents, there’s nothing really new here with respect to what we’ve already heard of Beauchamps recantations. But what we now know, if the documents prove legit, is that Beauchamp informed TNR — specifically Frank Foer and TNR executive editor Peter Scoblic — that he did not stand behind his stories.
And then, there’s the Army’s official report (document 3), which concludes that Beauchamp’s stories were complete fabrications. This part of the story had already been widely reported, but the document gives the imprimatur of the US military.
For those who believe that Beauchamp copped to the fabrications because he feared what the army might do to him should he stand by his stories — you know, the kind of people who call the people who challenged the veracity of Beauchamp’s claims in the first place “nutters” for doing so — nothing much will change.
They’ll simply frame his unwillingness to stand by his story as the result of unspoken coercion (his squad leader and a specialist are in the room, probably holding Beauchamp at gun point), and (presumably) await his discharge, when he will finally be free to tell the truth — when the military industrial complex is no longer using its entire weight to bury stories about the horrors of (pre) war, and silence a lone truth teller brave enough to shine a sharp beam of light into the fog of mocking a disfigured woman so that you can excuse your own callousness by turning it into a teachable moment.
In other words, they’re so eager to believe Beauchamp’s bullshit, that not even Beauchamp’s own words will be able to sway them.
And when Beauchamp discovers that all he has to do is re-introduce the lies and fabrications outside of the purview of any kind of investigative authority in order to be embraced as a lefty hero…well, any doubts this smug and disingenuous opportunist won’t hop aboard that particular gravy train?
Move over Valerie and Joe. Here comes the reluctant warrior, Private Joker.
To Tell The Truth. Directed by Robert Redford. Starring Giovanni Ribisi and Gwyneth Paltrow. With Josh Hartnett as Franklin Foer.
In theaters everywhere, 2010.
****
update: Allah has similar thoughts.
(h/t CJ Burch)
****
update 2: Drudge has removed the documents and the story.
Ahem. Developing…
Pingback by beauchamp, epilogue « empty rhetoric on 10/24 @ 1:11 pm #
[...] beauchamp, epilogue Jeff at PW rounds it up nicely for us. [...]
Comment by keninnorcal on 10/24 @ 1:15 pm #
With Nick Lowe’s “I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass” over the credits. Or is that too Hazel O’Connor-ish?
Comment by happyfeet on 10/24 @ 1:16 pm #
For now I would like to think the best of Beauchamp and the absolute worst of Foer. Beauchamp may actually end up doing the older and wiser and sadder thing. Truth is, as compromised as he is, he does more in a day to actually help than I do in a year. If his mistakes have exposed Foer’s shriveled character and shown him to be an amoral twit, I’d say he’s done us a service. I don’t have that sort of feeling about Foer at all. Foer is in way over his head and all he does is live in Manhattan and edit a little magazine. How sad is that?
Comment by Dan Collins on 10/24 @ 1:17 pm #
Wait, you’re saying that the dead albatross learned more than the Ancient Mariner?
Comment by happyfeet on 10/24 @ 1:20 pm #
No I am saying that the bird that flies highest sees farthest.
God I hated that book.
Comment by LionDude on 10/24 @ 1:25 pm #
Hollywood Insider today reported that Ben Affleck has been cast to play the role of the disfigured woman.
Oscar written all over it.
Comment by J. Brenner on 10/24 @ 1:25 pm #
Careful, it looks like Drudge has removed this story from his site. Meanwhile, the people at the Corner have relayed a vauge disclaimer from TNR. Did Drudge fall for fake documents?
Comment by B Moe on 10/24 @ 1:31 pm #
“They’ll simply frame his unwillingness to stand by his story as the result of unspoken coercion…”
Nancy Pelosi threatened to censure him. What I heard.
Comment by happyfeet on 10/24 @ 1:31 pm #
Franklin Foer is still an ugly little gnome with a ginormous head that hates America, no matter if the documents Drudge had are any good or not. This is as good a day as any to remember that.
Comment by keninnorcal on 10/24 @ 1:35 pm #
“no matter if the documents Drudge had are any good or not.”
Ummmm, I’d rather rely on true documents, thank you very much. It’s what separates the species.
Comment by daleyrocks on 10/24 @ 1:36 pm #
Isn’t this story all about teh butseks, just like all the other stories the left cares about? Did I miss something?
Comment by happyfeet on 10/24 @ 1:37 pm #
Ok. I’ll just follow your lead on this one.
Comment by mojo on 10/24 @ 1:45 pm #
I’d bet TNR is screaming bloody murder over their transcript being leaked. Lots of lawyers writing nasty-grams with scary stories about “copyright violation” and such.
The NYT with CIA/DOD docs? Not so much.
Comment by mcgruder on 10/24 @ 1:55 pm #
quick thoughts:
A.Docs are gone from Drudge. That is a big, big problem.
B. Beauchamp recants nothing. Rather, he is revealed to be a complete scumbag who happily hangs the wife and editors out to dry because of a new-found love of his buddies.
C. TNR is feeling the heat badly. Foer shows every bit as much PR skill as any political operator when he demands to control the narrative, asks for canceled interviews.
D. The docs are gone. This is very very bad.For people on the TNR-side on this, that is a big break.
E. If they are true, all it shows is that TNRs investigation is a laugh-riot; they confirmed nothing and the US Army called BS.
F. But like I said, the docs are gone. Maybe the US Army wanted soldiers names redacted.
Comment by Tman on 10/24 @ 2:02 pm #
Yeah, I’m holding putting pen-to-paper for the sequel to Shattered Glass until these docs get verified. Because if true, I’ve got a plot line that’s GOLD baby!
And, I’m going to see if we can get Natalie Portman to show some skin as Beauchamps wife. That’ll garuntee a few billion ticket sales right there!
Comment by Huey on 10/24 @ 2:21 pm #
I have a feeling that Natalie Portman should play Franklin Foer.
Comment by Increase Mather on 10/24 @ 2:22 pm #
What’s TNR sayin’? Has Foer killed himself? Has Elspeth left Scottie? Pass the popcorn.
Comment by Slartibartfast on 10/24 @ 2:27 pm #
Well, there was some cool part in there where Beauchamp makes some nearly unintelligible comment about canceling the interviews with the other media outlets.
But it’s unavailable, now. I’m thinking that drudge has been slashdotted.
Comment by Dan Collins on 10/24 @ 2:29 pm #
mcgruder–
It would be a bigger problem if Malkin hadn’t cached them. Now that these transcripts are available, whether Drudge has legal problems or not, TNR still has either to confirm or deny that they are legit.
Comment by Slartibartfast on 10/24 @ 2:36 pm #
Great. Now I’ve got copies of them, too, in case Malkin gets burned.
Comment by psychologizer on 10/24 @ 2:42 pm #
Doesn’t matter. [Usual spiel omitted, but it ends like this:] This is about who you are, not what you believe.
So, regardless of Drudge’s documents’ provenance, veracity, and presence and/or absence, the lesson here is in NRO’s spinnuendo for TNR, and the “responsible” wing of the rightosphere’s readiness to follow it — reminders that they are, above and before all, not you, and with each “development” in this story, more so.
It always works.
Comment by Dan Collins on 10/24 @ 2:42 pm #
It’s a pretty convincing forgery, if it is a forgery.
Comment by Dan Collins on 10/24 @ 2:43 pm #
Way, way more sophisticated than the TANG ones.
Comment by Jeff G. on 10/24 @ 2:45 pm #
Frank Caliendo as Jonah Goldberg? For the Redford movie, I mean?
Comment by da on 10/24 @ 2:48 pm #
As was wisely proffered over at Mudville Gazette: Beauchamp is saving his ass from a legal battle over his profiting from a deliberate scam, and thus is taking the equivalent of the fifth. He is lawyered-up. And Foer was doing everything he could, including coming close to extortion (your wife’s gonna get it), to try and make Beauchamp not recant. I suspect the Army came down on Drudge. Or TNR’s lawyers. Or some combination. But the genie is out. Mission accomplished. Others have seen the docs in other contexts, so the forgery line is a non-starter. One or two grown-ups must remain in the universe of TNR, prediction: Foer gone soon. They re-hire Andrew and Andrew’s beau starts doing the cover art. Win-win.
Comment by Dan Collins on 10/24 @ 2:49 pm #
When the Levee Breaks
Comment by Tman on 10/24 @ 2:50 pm #
Natalie Portman as Andrew Sullivan?
Comment by RDub on 10/24 @ 2:51 pm #
I don’t know how well the Portman thing would work. If the stills I’ve seen from Darjeeling Limited are to be believed, she kinda looks like Orlando Bloom.
Comment by Slartibartfast on 10/24 @ 2:57 pm #
I’m seeing the cartoon Cathy as Andrew Sullivan. She’s got that head-squirting thing down cold. And who can do AAAACKKKKK!!!! better, I ask?
Comment by Tman on 10/24 @ 2:58 pm #
Yeah, but Portman got hear head shaved for that one flick. I mean, slap a five o’clock shadow on her cheeks, get her a beagle and -voila!
I figure I just ruined several fantasies.
Comment by Jim in KC on 10/24 @ 3:03 pm #
Beagles are kinda cool, though. When they’re hunting rabbits, at least.
Comment by kelly on 10/24 @ 3:09 pm #
Good question. Better question: what does Cathy think about creamy loads?
Comment by The Ghost of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi on 10/24 @ 3:11 pm #
Infidels the editors at the TNR have been contacted.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzBkNjFmY2Y0MDdhMzAwOGFiNzk4Y2Y5NGU5ZjIzMDA=
They do not dispute the provenance on the documents that were at Drudge, merely their characterization of them as a confession. So what one has is merely the TNR engaging in horribly decietful behaviour and continuing to lie in order to cover it up. Your NRO is more than happy to be their uncritical megaphone in this matter. Some may say I am too severe. I do not think so, but then I rememeber “Sometimes the Media is Right.” Enjoy the media you have built infidels, where loyalty to guild trumps truth and decency and shame.
Comment by Dan Collins on 10/24 @ 3:17 pm #
Uh huh. “Elspeth says it’s very important that you tell the truth, Scott.” NOT.
Comment by Dan Collins on 10/24 @ 3:21 pm #
By the way, anybody know where Elspeth is working these days? How she got the job? Revlon?
Comment by kelly on 10/24 @ 3:27 pm #
Well, yeah, but she’d also need a lot of backhair as well, I’d reckon.
Comment by commander0 on 10/24 @ 3:33 pm #
Try here:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2007/10/that_took_foerever_beauchamp_s.asp
Pingback by Neocon News » Total collapse of the bogus 'Shock Troops' story and Scotty Beauchamp on 10/24 @ 3:33 pm #
[...] Needed For Foer To Go | Daily Pundit » Four Layers of Left-Wing Propagandists Editors…. | “SHOCK DOCS: THE NEW REPUBLIC ‘SHOCK TROOPS’ STORY COLLAPSES”? | Ace of Spades HQ | Wake up America: Drudge Busts The New Republic’s Scott Beaucamp [...]
Comment by Major John on 10/24 @ 3:38 pm #
Please, if people are going to make comments like #29 and #30 - give me a heads up. I think I hurt a rib laughing so hard. I am going to go take a look at the alleged Army document, I’ll be back to give an opinion as to authenticity….whee.
Comment by commander0 on 10/24 @ 3:45 pm #
“Foer: Ellie sent me an e-mail to tell you that it’s the most important thing in the world for her that you say that you didn’t recant.”
This chick has got to have one of the most prehensile snappers on the planet to have managed to hoodwink this noodnik into joining the army, going through basic, perjuring himself in front of a (semi-)national audience, risking military prison, and basically ruining his entire life just to please her bosses at an essentially unpaid internship position she held for roughly 15 minutes. Because of tEh BUUUUUUSH.
Comment by Major John on 10/24 @ 4:05 pm #
Those docs look real to me. Also, it seems PVT Beauchamp wouldn’t waive his rights and that he got a very small slap on the wrist for the OPSEC violations - a “local” reprimand (one that vanishes once he finishes his current assignment, but can be used in aggrivation if he screws up while still with them).
Oh, and the transcript shows that Scoblic has already put his CYA plan into action. Heh.
Comment by The Ghost of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi on 10/24 @ 4:12 pm #
Actually the TNR is no longer the story infidels. The true fun is watching the the rest of your press (the NRO) cover for the TNR. This is how Duranty got to keep his Pulitzer and Walter Cronkite and Morley Safer and David Halberstam, among others, got to keep their his reputations. And you get to watch it all up close and personal in real time. Lucky infidels.
Comment by The Ghost of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi on 10/24 @ 4:25 pm #
The infidel Foer does not dispute the accuracy of the documents. He is upset they were leaked. Yes, the press was using the Army’s ehtics to protect their dishonesty.
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/244479.php
And yes, the NRO seems okay with that.
Comment by Aldo on 10/24 @ 5:22 pm #
As usual, John Cole gets right to the heart of the issue:
1. The story never mattered
2. The wingnut interpretation of it is that Foer is “worse than Hitler.”
Quote from Balloon Juice:
Um, Mr. Cole? I think there is some nuance here that you are missing.
Comment by Mcgruder on 10/24 @ 5:23 pm #
DC–I hear you. My concern is that Drudge, who posts all manner of insane and salacious stuff ordinarily, took this down. Lets stipulate that he didnt suddenly have some neo-liberal pang of conscience for the pain this would cause Foer and his TNR buds.
so…that leaves us with the possibility that someone got ahold of him and told him they were forged, incomplete or otherwise problematic. Because this is a big F–king scoop for him. So all this leaves us with is, well, nothing. Speculation: If Drudge wont keep docs up, that means some lawyers are involved that have fairly strong hands to play. FWIW: I might be all wet. It might be a simple tech problem. But I doubt it.
Because this was a big one for him. And dropping things isnt what old Matt is about.
Comment by Great Mencken's Ghost on 10/24 @ 5:55 pm #
It could also be the Army requested their removal as they weren’t officially released. In which case someone needs to explain the ideas of “internet” and “downloading” to them…
Comment by The Ghost of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi on 10/24 @ 5:57 pm #
This [pretty much sums up where we are, infidels. http://hotair.com/archives/2007/10/24/tnr-very-angry-that-the-army-didnt-let-them-pretend-beauchamp-conversation-never-happened/
It is ever so unfair when a reporter is the subject of a leak rather than the recipient of one.
Comment by SarahW on 10/24 @ 6:35 pm #
Dear John Cole, it goes like this:
Nothing Scott Beauchamp or Franklin Foer ever has to say matters any more, unless it is a confession, or a version of facts fully confirmed by some other, more reliable, source. Both are liars (they had their reasons) and they have lost benefit of doubts past, present and future, not to mention the good opinion of a great many people of many different political persuasions.
To those on the right it provides an example of a left-leaning press abandoning rigor and ethics to support a narrative pleasing to it’s sensibility. One of many. It’s a pattern.
Comment by McGehee on 10/24 @ 6:36 pm #
After his fashion, Drudge just did.
Comment by JD on 10/24 @ 6:53 pm #
They are most certainly back up, and expose the perfidy of TNR.
Comment by dicentra on 10/24 @ 7:22 pm #
I heard that the links went down because of a server problem. Read it on the innertubes and stuff, so it must be true.
Comment by JD on 10/24 @ 7:25 pm #
I cannot wait for those on the Left to tell us that those documents do not actually say exactly what they say.
Comment by Slartibartfast on 10/24 @ 7:29 pm #
I once had an extended argument with a woman about the USHRC report on the 2000 election. Her point was that it was proof that Bush Stole The Election, even after I’d pointed out multiple passages where it says, in effect, that no evidence of deliberate rigging was found.
So, I think your comment running parallel to this is bang on.
Comment by JD on 10/24 @ 7:47 pm #
Slarti - This is what makes actual civil discourse practically impossible any longer. There should be a certain baseline of facts that both sides agree to, like … Bush was elected (twice), Saddam was a threat and everybody else in the world thought so too, Beauchamp Foer and TNR lied out their asses, etc … That one side just cavalierly brushes the facts aside and replaces it with their narrative is of no consequence to them.
Comment by cynn on 10/24 @ 8:10 pm #
Yeah you sputtering idiot JD. I’m willing to debate any long issues.
Comment by Major John on 10/24 @ 8:20 pm #
?
Comment by Dan Collins on 10/24 @ 8:24 pm #
!
Comment by cynn on 10/24 @ 8:25 pm #
Sorry, Major John. I object to strangers telling me what I should believe.
Comment by cynn on 10/24 @ 8:28 pm #
OOPs! So sorry, wrong response. Cheers!
Comment by JD on 10/24 @ 8:53 pm #
Come again? Am I missing something?
Comment by Major John on 10/24 @ 9:42 pm #
I am going to just walk away, slowly, at this point.
Comment by McGehee on 10/24 @ 9:54 pm #
Careful, cynn — somebody might accuse you of being “contrarain.”
Comment by happyfeet on 10/25 @ 12:15 am #
Did I mention how much I love President Bush?
Love him. Love him.
Comment by happyfeet on 10/25 @ 12:33 am #
Mostly they made me drink the cocktails and I can’t figure this Beauchamp thinger out at all. Cap’n Ed has four freaking updates. That’s a really big day for him. A lot of excitement.
Comment by happyfeet on 10/25 @ 1:08 am #
quick thoughts:
A. Frankie Foer is not getting good advice. I think he’s handling this all by himself, which is really weird.
B. That baseball game was sort of an analogy for something I think.
C. Psychologizer really gives the biggest clue about what happened today. It seems like people must at some point have been taking The Corner seriously. Remember kids - Cap’n Ed reads The Corner so you don’t have to. He’s a national treasure, that one.
D. Drudge, he is not necessarily the person who posted the documents, but he’s for sure the guy that took them down. What I read this morning did not really sound like it was in his voice. He pimps things more better usually.
Comment by Mikey NTH on 10/25 @ 5:53 am #
I think cynn broke a synapse.
(”But I am Napoleon!”)
Comment by Great Mencken's Ghost on 10/25 @ 8:20 am #
Happyfeet — In the full transcript, Foer has TNR counsel come in in the middle of the phone call. He may be making stupid, suicidal decisions, but he has help…
Comment by happyfeet on 10/25 @ 8:26 am #
Oh. I was keying more off his statement later yesterday that someone I think quoted and credited Hot Air with having. It just seemed like such a dumb response, and none of what this gut does seems to be done with any regard for The New Republic. Like it’s more Frankie acting like he’s the client, not the magazine. And that seems weird, but then again, people do get thrown overboard there kind of whimsically.
Comment by happyfeet on 10/25 @ 8:27 am #
*guy*
Comment by MarkD on 10/25 @ 8:31 am #
“I object to strangers telling me what I should believe.”
I object to people lying to me. I don’t mind opinions.
Comment by BJTexs on 10/25 @ 8:58 am #
There’s nothing left in the headlines aT Drudge about this.
MAAAAAATT! MAAAAAATT! YOU GOTS SOME SPLAININ’ TO DO!!!
Comment by mojo on 10/25 @ 10:36 am #
“I don’t mind a parasite. I object to a cut-rate one.”
– Casablanca
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