There’s a big brouhaha about pseudonymous correspondent “Scott Thomas’s” reports to TNR, and The Weekly Standard’s Michael Goldfarb has done a good job of documenting the latest potential Stephen Glass episode in Iraqi War coverage. Personally, I thought she was much more believeable in The English Patient. Some of the issues that have arisen regard the layout of vehicles and the measures they’re equipped with, the likelihood of soldiers resorting to the kind of cruel “hijinx” he attributes to them, the presence or absence of specific characters mentioned, the nature of Glock rounds as described–in short, a multitude of reasons for which people are skeptical regarding TNR’s Baghdad reporter’s tales.
I suppose that it is possible that he’s merely reporting, but I don’t think so. I believe that TNR has been broadcasting the incredible tales of a (thanks to them) professional liar, because it comports with their idea of the heinous nature of the US military mission in Iraq and those who participate in it. Personally, I want everyone to keep the pressure on them to prove what they’ve reported to this point. In short, if they’ve been reporting libellous fabrications, as I and others believe is the case, they deserve to be smeared with the same quantity of shit that they have attempted to foist on American soldiery, and the vilification will once again prove to be an index of the psychological deformity that they have, wittingly or unwittingly, projected onto our servicepeople.
It is time for TNR to put up or don the sackcloth.
Now that had some heft. Good word for it, heft.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Claims by an anonymous Private do not qualify. I’m from Missouri…show me.
The thing that bugs me about it isn’t the fact that it’s likely bullshit.
Rather, even if it were true, what was the reason for publishing it in a journal such as TNR?
All it shows is that some soldiers are idiots. Newsflash, wak into any office and you’ll find a few assholes as well.
It’s not like these guys in the story were raping and pillaging, so again, why publish it, even if true. Has TNR become the National Enquirer or something?
Having some experience with matters martial, most of those writings appear to me to be an attempt to scatter just enough facts across a work of fiction as necessary to make it appear truthful. As noted on most blogs that have delved into the stories, the “facts” do not support that end. The stories are instead indicative of someone who thinks they know more about the military affairs than they do.
I imagine we’ll soon be hearing arguments along the lines of “Even if they aren’t true in the traditional sense, those darn soldier types are surely engaging in this sort of behavior and if it wasn’t for the thorough cover up by this administration, we would certainly have heard of it by now and it is therefore true in an important and symbolic sense that excuses us from all culpability for printing something that some Bush-sympathizing-right-wingers suggest is false.”
tw: “well cherry” – if I had dollar for everytime I heard that one.
A very good indication that the story is BS is that Franklin Foer, TNR’s editor, is attacking the people asking the questions instead of answering them.
A response: http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2007/07/fob_falcon_responds.asp
Via LGF
I call BS. Somebody is having the TNR on. And TNR is lapping it up like pie.
tw Emptio losing
Posted by at a commenter a TNR: “I really, truly hope the Scott Thomas pieces are fact and not fiction nor a practical joke. With all the recent journalistic misbehavior, it would merely add fuel to the fire of news ethics up in flames.”
Doesn’t this just boil the story it down to its essence? TNR prints some absolutely stupid,ridiculous fucking story just hoping these idiots fall for it.
Maybe TNR should hire Iraqi Police Captain Jamil Hussein to get to the bottom of this? AP considers him to be super reliable and he’s usually on the scene for big stories, he could probably solve this in two minutes.
To TNR’s satisfaction, anyway.
Dig in, TNR, hang tough and remember Dan Rather’s victory over the internet.
Foer’s statement is a bit incongruous. If the story were vetted prior to publication, why the need for the fact checking he is now engaged in? Why doesn’t he come forward with corroboration?
I smell a rat…a big, stinky rat.
My personal favorite bit of debunking came from Limerick at Hot Air regarding the mean old Bradley driver swerving into the poor little doggie and dragging him down the road a ways.
1. You don’t swerve in a Bradley, and if you tried, especially repeatedly, your crew would likely kick your ass.
2. A Bradley driver can’t see the ground around him, especially on the right side, where this poor doggie was supposed to be.
3. Tracked vehicles don’t drag things. The tracks are stationary with links dropped in the front and picked up in the rear as the vehicle moves forward. Should you get run over by one, you will be squished in place, not smeared along the roadway.
It’s a nice story though, if you’re looking for a tall tale.
OT, but only slightly:
The NY Times has sunk to a new low.
Seriously, folks: it’s one thing to publish national security secrets, but HP spoilers? Avada Kedavra!
TW: Heroism itself can be found in one of the printed works mentioned above, but not the other. Guess which?
Brian, that comment is most interesting, in my view, for the hope that the STORY is true, as it would give weight to the perception of journalistic integrity. I would hope that most (sane) people would hope the story to be false, and therefore not cast our military in a juvenile and sadistic light.
“she was much more believable in The English Patient.”
Believable? She was downright inspirational. The scene in the bathtub. My. My. My.
…doubling over with laughter
…practically falling out of his chair laughing
…reveling in the laughter my words had provoked
…folding in half with laughter
…Everyone was laughing, nearly rolling with laughter
…shaking with laughter
and they find “tiny cracked tibias“? A rather too-perfect mataphor no? I’m thinking someone’s not getting the joke here.
*metaphor*
Well what type of behavior do you expect from the hordes of jenghis khan?
TW: from delusional from delusional people, you get delusional nonsense.
The non-existence of the allleged mass grave site will likely be the TNR’s undoing here.
That being said, reading happyfeet’s observation, it would explain why our troops don’t want to leave Iraq yet; it’s a laugh-riot!
Sounds like someone has been watching “Full Metal Jacket” a few too many times.
TW: Amsterdam whips. Now cut that out!
Karl, I don’t think there’s anything in the story at all that won’t be TNR’s undoing.
Run-flat tires, lego cartridges, characters from popular fiction, missing mass graves, movie car chases in a House On Tracks… it’s Gulliver’s Travels on acid.
TW: origin harshest (well, yes)
The left lies every day of the year. Sometimes they slip up and the lie is transparent. I wish this obvious lie would cause a few more of the left to question their journalistic authorities. The most important thing about this story is that it shows how much TNR really “supports the troops.”
What a thorough and professional response from the Major.
It chaps my ass to see TNR pulling crap like this, but honestly, at this point, it really doesn’t surprise me. There is a noticeable tinge of desperation on the left these days. Things just aren’t progressing according to the template they’ve laid out, they know it, and they are growing shrill because of it.
What really burns is seeing how this poorly sourced bullshit pulls our military personnel away from the real problems.
And that my friends is what giving aid and comfort to the enemy is all about.
Between Franklin and his little brother, the Foer family owes an apology to the English language.
Imagine that the Rathergate forgeries were done in crayon and fingerpaint. The Scott Thomas piece is just as obviously BS. Which raises some interesting questions. No, not why would TNR publish such drivel. They’re clearly a pack of incompetent anti American idiots.
Why would “Scott” make this crap up? Is he really on the ground in Baghdad? Speculation…I know that quite a few of our troops have a major problem with the MSM. Do you suppose Scott and his buddies just gave TNR the sucker punch from hell? If so, good on ’em. I’m leaning that way. I think it would take a GI to get everything so hilariously wrong, but subtly so. The guy is a satiric genius.
Sadly there are any number of media outfits with the resources to investigate these claims. None of them ( on the right or the left) will actually make a serious attempt to do it. The argument about what did or didn’t happen sells better than what actually happened. That’s just how journalism works.
Old Dad. It has all the earmarks of a story being told to someone who has little or no military background.Just enough verisimilitude to make anyone non-military believe it. The stories just don’t scan.
The media is in a psy-ops war with the Bush administration for control of the US strategy in the GWOT. Unfortunate, I think they are winning, and have cowed the administration into believing that if they lead strongly, nobody will follow. Nothing could be further from the truth, Americans are hungry for a leader that will do what is in our best interests, and tell the New York Times to go to hell. Bush has to stand up and talk about these lies, and name names. Whoever the hell is advising him to be conciliatory needs to be fired!
TW: “Finer’s Willy” – I was wondering when that would come up.
I don’t think it’s psy-ops. I think it is out in the open. The media (both sides of it) is a political enterprise, period. Everything it does is about rallying its political base. The facts just get in the way. I don’t like it, but I understand it. I’m more annoyed that the rest of us seem to believe all this “journalisitic ethics” bilge the j-school people and the talking ( and blogging) heads are constantly gibbering about.
Has TNR substantively addressed the criticism of their apparently fraudulent war correspondent?
Even a cursory search shows that with the exception of some fairly soft questions from Kurtz, given the mountains of evidence contradicting their story, TNR says that they are “investigating” their story. Aren’t they supposed to do that before they publish it?
Foers says that the acts reported on were mild compared to other documented atrocities, which he declines to note, so it is safe to assume that they published this because it fit with their view of the men and women in service.
I did find an article by Ygelsias that essentially states that by the numbers, surely some in the military have committed these types of actions, so we should not be so hard to jump on TNR. The truthiness fake but accurate standard rears its ugly head again.
This would be different than the Stephen Glass deal cause you could sue a freelance writer for fraud, I’d think. There was a lot of discussion at some point during the Valerie Plame thing about whether confidentiality agreements pertained in the instance of dishonesty. I would like to see Scott Thomas exposed and sued into futurelessness. It’s just my mood this morning.
happyfeet – It will never happen. The MSM does not call them on this type of shit, and as Ygelsias shows, it simply fits with their view of the military, so it is reported uncritically. Only when they are called on it by conservative bloggers do they even bother to “investigate” it, even after it has been so thoroughly fisked by multiple parties. Obviously, this kind of shit really pisses me off, more so than their normal BS.
We will likely never even see the result of TNR’s “investigation”.
Right – and New Republic is private I think, so they don’t have any fiduciary duties at all, just gotta get that military good and trashed. Can you even imagine the recruiting problems they are setting a Dem president up for? Short-sighted little monkeys, these.
happyfeet – Why would they be concerned about that? Given President Clinton’s avowed loathing of the military, and his subsequent slashing of same, this should serve as no impediment to them. Besides, according to them, only blood thirsty god-botherers with no job prospects because of Bush’s horrible economy would even consider joining the military.
TNR’s market niche has never been to embrace scary stupid leftism. Even after Stephen Glass, they remained respectable. Digging in on Scott Thomas renders their little mag indistinguishable from freaking Utne. This is a sad thing, an implosion of dumb on a Gwyneth Paltrowesque scale.
Anyone care to bet whether or not this makes the MSM broadcasts?
How would we know?
No word yet from TNR on the veracity of Scott Thomas? If you want some entertaining reading, go to TNR’s blog, “The Plank”, and see all of the people defending the publication of this. Actually, the more information presented that contradicts the stories told, make TNR’s supporters that much more shrill.
Square ammunition – ha!
In similar news, if you haven’t seen it already, be sure to read this gem as it originally stood. And don’t miss the comments.
KILLITARY: Are America’s Armed Forces Creating Serial Killers and Mass Murderers?
That link to is a copy saved just before the writer took it down, and just after I dissected his ass. He’s since been interviewed by USA Today, where he claims that he’s just supporting the troops.
Also note that he’s since put the piece back up, sans the original comments and with commenting closed. Charles has more, including the Kos connection.
Pablo – You are to be commended for dissecting that drivel. Remember, we support the blood thirsty murdering troops ! Good gawd.
I will be taking bets on if TNR backtracks from their Shock Troops story, when they do so, and if they actually apologize for printing it.
SO, have they “put up on don the sackcloth” yet ?
[…] orders, you might be interested to know, if you didn’t, that the lid has blown off the Scott Thomas controversy. Malkin’s is as good a place as any to begin inspecting the curious mind of […]