The New Republic staff would love to respond. After all, their jobs and the future of the magazine are at stake. But darn it all, they have this vacation thing they've already committed themselves to. Otherwise they'd be issuing names, dates, and clarifications like gangbusters.

With TNR on vacation, there are no new follow-ups on the Beauchamp affair. For the record, I left the following as Comment 375 (!) at the thread at "The Plank" that is attached to the 8/2/07 A Statement on Scott Thomas Beauchamp.

Blogger Confederate Yankee has contacted Public Affairs Officers and reprinted their responses to his inquiries about the "corroborated woman" in the chow hall.

No complaints of chow-hall taunting were filed.

To this point, nobody has come forward with recollections that a woman with a half-burned face was at Camp Behring in Kuwait during the time that Beauchamp was there.

TNR Editor Jason Zengerle corresponded with one of the PAOs prior to 8/2/07, and was thus aware of these developments, though this absence of evidence went unmentioned in its Statement.

Pre-publication fact checking didn't detect that Beauchamp had transposed the chow hall incident from pre-deployment Kuwait to FOB Falcon.

Post-publication fact checking didn't disclose that the PAO contacted by TNR could not verify the existence of a burned woman at Camp Behring.

At this point, the chow-hall taunting incident has the status of an urban legend.

Urban legends shouldn't appear in the pages of TNR as rigorously-checked facts. They shouldn't be backed up by the magazine's staff during a post-publication controversy.

It is, of course, possible that new witnesses will step forward and point to a factual basis for Beauchamp's story. That would not excuse TNR's conduct to this point.

Surely subscribers of the right wing, the center, and the left wing have a shared interest in urging The New Republic to transparently describe its vetting procedures, and then to follow them? Surely the spectacle of "doubling down" on Urban Legends is not deserving of readers' support?

Confederate Yankee's Aug. 5 post is here:
http://tinyurl.com/38dghd

The Aug. 6 post is here:
http://tinyurl.com/2tfjlg

Hmmmm.

@ CY

Not to add to your workload but would it be possible to find out the mailing address for the soldiers in Alpha Company of the 1/18?

Why? Because I really feel for these people. I expect most of them got caught completely by surprise and had no idea about any of this nonsense. They're in a combat zone trying to do a difficult and dangerous job and on top of all that they've got this silly nonsense to deal with. Something I'm certain they really don't need at this point.

So I'd like to send'em a care package and a note saying how sorry I am that they've been pushed into this.

Occam's Razor

He just made it all up.

LIAR!!!

He lied about the disfigured woman to DISCREDIT his unit

there IS NO disfigured woman!!!

You know what? I really don't think that Beauchamp is credible. And his own admission that something that he said happened in Iraq (and, impliedly, as a result of fighting in Iraq) happened in Kuwait is enough to sink the whole thing. However, I think that people need to be careful about what they consider "proof" that he lied. What does it mean to say that there's "no record of this"? That no one reported such an incident? That there's no record of a burned woman? Why would there be? I think we should find out precisely what the army did to check and what it was checking. Otherwise, it becomes a lot easier for people to ignore the already-existing and very powerful reasons not to believe Beauchamp, and focus on claims that the army didn't properly investigate.

I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention. When did Beauchamp become a PV2 (E-2)? I was under the impression he was a PFC (E-3). Was he previously a PFC and recently reduced in rank? He's been in since 2003 or 2004 right? With all of his college credits, he should have started out at at least a PFC. IIRC, if you have a BA/BS and you enlist, you can start out as a SPC (E-4). We all knew he was having some problems, but to be in the Army for that long and still be a PV2 most likely means he is familiar with Article 15s.

Hmmm.

@ BohicaTwentyTwo

Evidently if you look at his writing, including his MySpace page and blog, he's posted that he was a PFC (PV3) in Germany but in Kuwait/Iraq he was a Private (PV2).

And that was *before* this recent incident which will probably result in his becoming a Private (PV1). So yes I'm pretty sure he's very familiar with Article-15s.

But then again I've had a couple myself when I was in so I can't point any fingers on that score.

I routinely get confused about the country I'm in. Why just last week I ordered a magazine subscription and gave a Zimbabwe address by mistake. It can happen to anyone.

Hmmmm. Has anyone ever seen Franklin Foer and Stephen Glass in the same place at the same time...?

A couple other things worth noting:

1. Beauchump posted atrocity stories to his blog (including one where an NCO orders the murder of an Iraqi civilian) before ever leaving Germany. Those stories have the same little details meant to lend verisimilitude, but they're clearly nothing but "wannabee Hemingway" at work.

2. Beauchump's wife/fiancee/squeeze/whatever Ellie Reeve at TNR seems to have been the conduit that brought him to Fraudulent Franklin's attention. When she was hired by TNR, she had written at least two stories in which Beauchump figured. Is it normal to write about your own, er, bunkmates in the third person? It wasn't when I was a reporter, but given the examples of Elspeth Reeve and Mirthala Salinas, maybe that's changed in "eee-light journ'ism p'toons."

We're all familiar with the old definition of a war story (a fairy tale with an alternate beginning to "once upon a time..."). If you've served, then you know how rumours get bigger and bigger (many a commander has been entertained to hear what the troops are saying about their "Old Man"). I suspect that Beauchump's own life wasn't interesting enough, so he sauced up all the rumours going around and fed the dish to the gullible editors at TNR, all of whom would be horrified out of their panties at the thought of actually, you know, serving in a military service or anything.

As a private in a mech infantry unit, Beauchump's everyday routine would be: doing preventive maintenance in the motor pool on grimy Brad tracks, wheel bearings and whatnot; doing repetitive training (that a bright kid might think beneath him); and doing support details (which everybody hates). As a narcissistic kid with a sense of entitlement the size of a building, it's no surprise that he has been a discipline problem. Like the kid trying to pull a stunt on mom and dad, Beauchump probably faces his sergeants with the idea they've never seen a Wile E. Coyote Super Genius like him before -- and gets about the same results as Wile E. did.

Oh, No.

We have seen Franklin Foer and Stephen Glass in the same place at the same time. But we've never seen Glass with Beauchamp.

I'm surprised the tall tales from his pre-deployment blog haven't gotten more play. It shows all the marks of a narcissistic/borderline personality - from witnessing serious crimes that never happened to making up a girlfriend (the picture of him with the attractive blond - she's actually a very conservative German blogger, they were at a blogger's get-together and never met otherwise).

Personally, I suspect that many of his stories may have had a bit of truth in them. Fabulists often start with something small and real, and embellish until it suits their purpose. There's some evidence that his unit did accidentally dig up an unmarked cemetery of children, it's likely that one those men held a child's skull (and if they're anything like the soldiers I know, said a silent prayer.) It's almost certain that somewhere in country an American vehicle killed a dog. But those stories wouldn't have been published and wouldn't have have advanced his or his bunkie's careers.

The only good news for Beauchamp is that he's still young. If he really decides he needs help, he can change. 10 or 15 years from now his personality will be set. He'll be a 2 bit, petty con man, in bankruptcy and alone, wondering where his fabulous life went.

I'm still waiting to see if anything else comes out of The New Republic. If the military investigation is really completed, shouldn't there be a flurry of keyboards over at the left-leaning publication? I thought they had reliable confirmation beforehand? Surely they wouldn't be irresponsibly publishing accusations that seem to be designed to hurt the war effort...

Found the woman: Contractor Irish McGalla, horribly disfigured by wounds inflicted during Bush's Abominable Expedition

According to TNR, Beauchamp says "We were really poking fun at her; it was just me and Scott, the day that I made that comment. We were pretty loud. She was sitting at the table behind me. We were at the end of the table. I believe that there were a few people a few feet to the right."

Who is Scott? What's his last name? According to Beauchamp story, Scott didn't do anything significantly wrong - he couldn't eat while looking at a disfigured woman, so he was going to leave quietly. It was Beauchamp that mocked her. (and since he was a PV2 and didn't know if she was military or civilian, he was likely mocking someone of superior rank).

Does "Scott" verify the story?

Zara,

You must never have been in the Armed Forces. There is a record of every human being in the Army. Where they are every day. It's called a morning report. Every morning every human being is accounted for. Of course, every veteran has a story of some manipulation by a friend to account for someone who was late getting back from a weekend pass.

Women are a rare enough commodity in a war zone. Do you think those young men don't know the face of every female at their little hall. Think of it as a large restaurant that can serve fifty people at one time. You eat three meals there every day, for 365 days. These men not only know every woman by sight, they may even know every woman personally. Someone actually works with these women. They do not interact much differently than civilians. Granted they are somewhat higher in intelligence, than their civilian counterparts. They also tend to be more polite, since there is a high expectation of courtesy. "Hi Tom. This is Mary she works over in the motor pool. She's only been here two weeks. etc. etc. etc."

These men can not only tell you the color and length of every young woman's hair. He probably has a mental picture of her rank, height, weight and feminine charms or lack there of. They are also very aware of every combat injury. Simple courtesy, as in civilian life, would demand little or no recognition of injuries. They would not dare be rude to any injured party, it would bring the wrath of the entire unit upon them. They would in effect be a pariah for the rest of their stay.

It is very easy for a unit to check on who was using the chow hall. Every meal has to be accounted for. A company commander could tell the company clerk to go through the files of last May, and give him a list of every female soldier in the unit, who was serving at that time. Then, pull up the names of all civilian personnel authorized to eat "my men's food." Find all female names on that list. Then go to their job site and see if any of the women are still here, look at their faces and see if they have any disfigurement of the face. Then go over to the women's barracks and ask the NCO in Charge if she remembers any of the unknowns names. Then ask all of our platoon leaders, if they recognize any unknown names, and was that party injured. If you still have unaccounted names, ask the squad leaders if they recognize the names. Of course since the MOS (military occupational specialty) is listed it would give a humongous hint, of where to start looking. For a Chaplain's Assistant you would check with the Chaplain's office, etc. Next, give me a summary of this, by the end of this working day.

If there were a name that no one remembered, all they would have to do is check her serial number to see where she is stationed now. A call to her company commander could answer the disfigurement question easily. If you wanted to see if plastic surgery was done because everyone looks unscathed, you could, with permission of higher ups look at every woman's medical records to see if she was ever wounded and had plastic surgery of the face. There will also be a record of whether any of these women received a purple heart.

I imagine that there are even fewer women contractors in the arena. There is not a chance that the contractors, who used the mess hall wouldn't remember a woman who had been disfigured in the face. Think about it, would you remember?

I had to track down my military records, from Vietnam. I managed to find a guy I served with who had a copy of a morning report with my name on it. It had the name of every soldier at the Forward Command Post. It had our names serial number, MOS, and where we were, such as R&R, sick call, temporary assignment, etc. Picture a bald mountain top with artillery, and some guy with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, in a tiny tent, with the monsoon rains beating down on it, pecking away at a typewriter recording this information. You're nuts if you think the Army can't figure this one out.

Believe me, this this guy has dishonored every member of these units. Do you think these officers want to have this in their records. He is a liar and will be exposed, or he is both a lout in relationship to his female comrade, and a participant in a potential war crime...desecration of graves.

Marty

Marty hit the nail on the head. Women, ugly or not, warrant an insane amount of attention in the desert. When I was in Afghanistan there was a woman working for the FBI on Bagram. Everyone just called her 'gun girl' because she walked around with a sidearm. She was overweight and not good looking at all, but that didn't matter -- anything besides a soldier they saw every day was something worth talking about and her legend grew for no particular reason at all. If there were a woman (or a dude for that matter) walking around with a melted face, I think everyone would have heard about it. I suspect there was (like the PAO officer said) an urban legend about it, which he latched on to. Kind've like the urban legend in the USMC about the dude who's watching a porn and it turns out to be his wife.

Mr Hognose also hit it on the head. When I first heard about this guy I knew the type -- everyone who has served does -- some guy who is too enlightened to do what everyone else is doing and loves to cite rules and regulations when convenient to him while thumbing his nose at any he feels are beneath him. He's a classic shitbird who would probably like nothing more than to be admin sep'd for a pattern of stupid (read "enlightened" and "free thinking" by the left, who will immediately employ him) behavior.

Zara,
Any woman who was that badly burned would probably need constant medical attention even after her recovery. The hospital there would need to provide her meds and check ups. There should be no way NOT to find such a person. In this case, I can say Beauchamp probaly heard a story of a guy who heard it from a dude who actually saw somebody do that, no kiddin man, and he made it his own. I expect most of his stories are like that.

This follows an earlier refutation from Kuwait-based U.S. Army PAO Renee D. Russo at Camp Arifjan, and the discovery of the fact that Jason Zengerle, Senior Editor of The New Republic knew in advance of the publication of TNR's own investigation, which conveniently refused to address the fact that the U.S. Army has been unable to find any record of a burned female contractor at bases in Iraq or Kuwait, and considers the story "a urban legend or myth."

This isn't very clear. What was discovered about Jason Zengerle?

It seems likely that the most effective way to address Beauchamp's transgressions was through Art. 15 NJP. In spite of the fact that his tales received distribution in a national publication, it wouldn't be in the Army's interests or in PVT Beauchamp's for this to continue with an Art. 32 and a Summary or Special CM.

Major Lamb states that the PAO system is only responding to specific inquiries, and little more is expected to be released unless PV-2 Beauchamp decides to discuss the matter further, which he is free to do.

Sounds pretty much like he confessed to making crap up.

Zingerle is telling Podhoretz at The Corner that he didn't receive Russo's email until after they had published the editorial and that the email was different from what Russo told CY.

Also Confederate Yankee?

unless PV-2 Beauchamp decides to discuss the matter further, which he is free to do.

Implies that he is and has been able to discuss the matter. Is there any way to find out how long he was stripped of communication (or if he really ever was?)?

It is my understanding they do talk to every possible witness first before the subject, so if he was asked to refrain communication 2 or 3 days(?) until they talked with him and made a final judgment and determined no crimes were committed (which pretty much means he lied and/or exaggerated and confessed to such) - sounds like he is in no real rush to "discuss" the matter and for quite a while...

that the email was different from what Russo told CY.

ever so slightly semantically different.

Hasn't TNR's defense been nothing but semantics thus far? Thet haven't produced one shred of objective evidence in support that I can see, which is why they have absolutely no credibility AFAIC.

Concur Laddy.

You have to check this out, Johathan Chait of TNR and Ross Douthat of that Atlantic Monthly discussing the Beauchamp affair.

bloggingheads.tv

Its a shame, his daddy probably never told him lying was wrong.

So now, he lies to get attention.

Simple, yet sad

BRAD THOR, in his fiction, wrote about a woman whose face was badly burned by an IED.

Incident can't be moved to Kuwait. It's something BeauCHUMP picked up when he read BRAD THOR's book.

Jolly, as this discovery sounds, it's a no-no even in journalism skools. To pick the works of others, without attribution.

From start to finish, the Internet has uncovered this POS BeauCHUMP. I remember reading, early on, at JOM (Just One Minute), someone saying they had reviewed military pay records, and "Scott Thomas" was not PFC. Wasn't FIRST CLASS. But had been DEMOTED. The infraction causing the pay grade demotion occurred before this article was even sent to TNR.

As to Elsbeth, who is both the head-fact-checker at TNR, and the wife of BeauCHAMP, if I had to guess? Even though TNR is closed for a 3-week hiatus vacation; she'll be fired. When she gets back. Just like Mary Mapes. The "suits" will blame her. And, spit venom at her.

While never actually coming out, in print, to apologize for the fake and innacurate reporting.

UPDATE,
Beauchamp admits story is BS
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2007/08/beauchamp_recants.asp

Another summer in DC, another fairbanksing at TNR. It is getting as sure as the humidity on the Mall.

Could be wrong, but I am guessing Miss Fairbanks did some of the editing of these fables.

"I remember reading, early on, at JOM (Just One Minute), someone saying they had reviewed military pay records, and "Scott Thomas" was not PFC. Wasn't FIRST CLASS. But had been DEMOTED."

So, he was demoted, but was never a PFC? Its possible that he was a SPECIALIST, but then received a FIELD GRADE ARTICLE 15. You can get busted two ranks in a field grade. Mind you, Field Grade Article 15s are done at the battalion level or higher so he would have had to have screwed up big time to get a hit like that. Not that I am suprised.

And I was getting all fired up on starting to call him ex-PFC Beauchamp.

Let’s remember that the new Managing Editor of TNR, Franklin Foer, is the degenerate spawn of one of the farthest left “historians” on the fake-history bash-the-USA academicide front. Papa Foer has won many historical prizes for consistently unmaksing the evils in America, especially during the Reconstruction, and still presides at Columbia U., where “left” means “centrist” and “centrists” don’t exist.

Evil Poppa begets evil son who enables evil chronicler. Just connect the dots. No fault on the left, as Mark Rudd told me decades ago when I was a deluded SDS volunteer. He smoked my dope & left me with the advice, "Dare to cheat, dare to win." Could be Columbia U's motto! At least when CSJ hands out Pulitzers!

Let’s remember that the new Managing Editor of TNR, Franklin Foer, is the degenerate spawn of one of the farthest left “historians” on the fake-history bash-the-USA academicide front. Papa Foer has won many historical prizes for consistently unmaksing the evils in America, especially during the Reconstruction, and still presides at Columbia U., where “left” means “centrist” and “centrists” don’t exist.

Evil Poppa begets evil son who enables evil chronicler. Just connect the dots. No fault on the left, as Mark Rudd told me decades ago when I was a deluded SDS volunteer. He smoked my dope & left me with the advice, "Dare to cheat, dare to win." Could be Columbia U's motto! At least when CSJ hands out Pulitzers!

there IS NO disfigured woman!!!

OBVIOUSLY a fabrication.

A disfigured person in a war zone? How could THAT possibly happen?

It's Official: He's through

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2007/08/beauchamp_recants.asp