so does Scotty still have a chance to be Hemmingway some day?

He has a nice cushy job waiting for him at the New York Slimes when he gets stateside.

Michael Yon is a sensible guy. And he is right about one thing. That Beauchamp is still walking around means that his buddies decided to give him a second chance to make things right.

He may well have learned his lesson....but if he puts in for a medal for fighting a sack of rice, I'm calling 'foul!'

Yon had done more with this one post than TNR has done in investigating matters and informing their readers.

Figures.

Six of the last seven stories here have addressed media malfeasance.

I think their impending defeat in Iraq has the media-industrial complex in a bit of panic, something like the effect the Red Army's approach had on the inmates of the Fuhrerbunker.

Scott wrote it
TNR published it

which is the greater failure?

Perhaps the civility that he is receiving from his compatriots will help him grow as a man . I hope so, one human at a time. folks. We can triumph and we will.

If he decided to stay and his unit and his Commander are okay with it then that's fine by me. They are the ones serving with him. Believe me I'd be surprised if he hasn't paid for it twofold by now.

And posts like this show the best the right has to offer. We can move on. We can forgive. We may not forget, but we won't shove it down your throat everyday of your life...if you know how to be humble. I will say I respect ANY person who can admit to being humbled, because it's certainly the hardest part of any defeat. And for that, I respect Beauchamp.

The left doesn't know, nor care to understand, the importance of being humble nor of being humbled. And because of that, they will never learn their lesson.

re: #4 Crusader Rabbit

He may well have learned his lesson....but if he puts in for a medal for fighting a sack of rice, I'm calling 'foul!'

He is a Private E1 these days. Some of our brightest kids go IN to the army at a higher rank than that. I strongly suspect that when he leaves the Army down the road a piece he will still be a Private E1. No medals. Not even a Good Conduct.

re: #3 galloping granny

Michael Yon is a sensible guy. And he is right about one thing. That Beauchamp is still walking around means that his buddies decided to give him a second chance to make things right.

I figure that if his buddies can give him a second chance and he has the stones to stay, he has definately found a better path than what TNR is following. I'll bet his 'fiance' dumped him too.

Kinda makes me wonder if the girlfriend was bait.

I wouldn't have given this guy a second chance and i would never have been this forgiving of Beauchamp - that's very respectable what the soldiers are doing

"The New Republic" is the bad guy in this in the end imo.

In some cases I have read comments (not many) that would indicate he is safer in Iraq.......

re: #7 friarstale

Scott wrote it
TNR published it

which is the greater failure?

Did he actually write it? Or are these tales he told his wife who works for TNR that she took to her bosses and they ghosted? Having known more than a few Army privates and a couple of reporters, I suspect the later is the case.

re: #14 trailortrash

Scott made his bed too, he was willing to come clean, TNR hasn't...

re: #14 trailortrash

There's plenty of bad jobu to go around. Beauchamp decided to embellish - and write lies for that matter, but got into trouble for violating opsec by providing details of troop movements. He got a memo of concern for that. Very charitable on the part of his COs.

TNR enabled Beauchamp, and the coverup was worse than the crime. For that, TNR will eventually pay.

Sorry for the O/T folks but........ The Prez just touched down in Escondido and is speeding like a bat out of hell towards Rancho Bernardo...

Michael Yon! He is my favorite!

Good for Beauchamp. As Yon notes, he can't be the most popular guy in his unit yet he stuck it out in order to make amends. He might come back and mouth off again, but he gets credit for doing the right thing.

Yon is also right that the target of our contempt should be his editors.

The one thing I do not understand about Beauchamp, why did he joint the Army?

Seeing that he did not quit when he was given a choice, there must be something else going on in this kid's mind...

re: #16 galloping granny

re: #7 friarstale

Scott wrote it
TNR published it

which is the greater failure?

Did he actually write it? Or are these tales he told his wife who works for TNR that she took to her bosses and they ghosted? Having known more than a few Army privates and a couple of reporters, I suspect the later is the case.

very good point
it seems TNR is the more culpable either way

I concur with the excellent Michael Yon. Beauchamp has recognized and acknowledged his mistakes. He is paying for those mistakes now and will continue to do so for some time to come. He's made his peace with what he has done, in a manner that suits him, though it may not be sufficient for some of us who want nothing less than his scalp.

Yon is correct when he offers that TNR is 'treed'. It is wholly TNR and Foer we should be focusing our attentions on now, for they as gatekeepers to their publication are indeed the bigger culprit in this debacle.

Keep on pushing this - do not let it die. Let us see the scalp of Foer.

The New Republic treed like a bandit ... personally, I think they would make a nice Daniel Boone hat.

This is funny :-)

Allah is most forgiving and merciful...

OT

Here's a real coffee-spewer of a cartoon from the NY Post:

Democrat Family Portrait

I appreciate Mr. Yon giving a reality check on this. It appears Beauchamp was given a chance to man-up, and I hope he makes the best of it. I believe TNR also has a chance to "come correct," and I also hope they take it. If they don't--and soon--there should be severe consequences.

As a Vet I'd like to add that Beauchamp is a world class douchebag, but you all already knew that.

An apology to his unit (implied by the fact he is still there), and penance by staying with them.

Good on Beauchamp.

I get the feeling he was "handled" by his TNR girlfriend.

re: #27 Shiplord Kirel

OT

Here's a real coffee-spewer of a cartoon from the NY Post:

Democrat Family Portrait

The Move-On lampshade is priceless!

Yon gives some excellent points to ponder. I have a lot of respect for him and give him credit for his compassion and understanding. I'm not quite sure I can get past a guy who would do that to his buddies, but one thing that's for sure, he's spot on about no third chance.

I have been reading Michaels posts for a long time now. He is everything that Dan Rather and the rest of them wish they were. I am thankful for people like Mr. Yon, he is THE paragon of journalism. The irony is funny too, given the post about Rall this morning, Mr. Yon is exactly the opposite of what Rall claims the military is made of.

Just my two irrelevant cents.

Good news for America.....

War on Terror Update

43% Say U.S. Winning the War on Terror, 30% Say Terrorists Are Winning

...bad news for Democrats.
It looks like we might be turning the corner on Iraq.

I agree with Yon.

"Beauchamp stood his ground even after Editor Franklin Foer told him "that if you're not able to talk about this and able to stand by your story, I'm not sure we'll be able to stand by it. . . . You wouldn't have much credibility left in the public eye. . . . You basically made a vow to us that what you were publishing was the truth." Foer added that Beauchamp's wife, Elspeth Reeve, then a New Republic reporter, had said "that it's the most important thing in the world for her that you say that you didn't recant."

from Kurtz, Wapo

Foer is a hell of a guy.

Correction, Charles: Yon always has good posts!

re: #34 Killgore Trout

re: #34 Killgore Trout

Good news for America.....

War on Terror Update

43% Say U.S. Winning the War on Terror, 30% Say Terrorists Are Winning

...bad news for Democrats.
It looks like we might be turning the corner on Iraq.

and 27% asked to be put on the do not call list?

re: #12 Eowyn2

re: #3 galloping granny

Michael Yon is a sensible guy. And he is right about one thing. That Beauchamp is still walking around means that his buddies decided to give him a second chance to make things right.

I figure that if his buddies can give him a second chance and he has the stones to stay, he has definately found a better path than what TNR is following. I'll bet his 'fiance' dumped him too.

Kinda makes me wonder if the girlfriend was bait.

Only, Only, Only because he was confronted an cornered did he admit problems and we don;t know that he came completely clean. Let's see if TNR publishes his NEW and IMPROVED stories when he returns.

They should have kicked him out - he's trouble - Dr. Martha Stout says - 3 lies and it means you have sociopathic tendencies.

Yon makes a good case to cut him some slack, for now.

re: #39 DistantThunder

re: #12 Eowyn2

re: #3 galloping granny

Michael Yon is a sensible guy. And he is right about one thing. That Beauchamp is still walking around means that his buddies decided to give him a second chance to make things right.

I figure that if his buddies can give him a second chance and he has the stones to stay, he has definately found a better path than what TNR is following. I'll bet his 'fiance' dumped him too.
Kinda makes me wonder if the girlfriend was bait.

Only, Only, Only because he was confronted an cornered did he admit problems and we don;t know that he came completely clean. Let's see if TNR publishes his NEW and IMPROVED stories when he returns.

They should have kicked him out - he's trouble - Dr. Martha Stout says - 3 lies and it means you have sociopathic tendencies.

My name is not Eowyn
I let my kids believe in Santa Clause (lie by omission)
I let my kids believe there is a tooth fairy (lie by omission)
I ALWAYS tell my mom it was good to talk to her.

I need a p-schitric.

re: #11 galloping granny

He is a Private E1 these days. Some of our brightest kids go IN to the army at a higher rank than that.

Beauchanp enlisted as a PFC (E-3), because he had 2 years of college.

He's one of the few people who manage to achieve a rank lower than what he started with.

re: #34 Killgore Trout

Good news for America.....

War on Terror Update

43% Say U.S. Winning the War on Terror, 30% Say Terrorists Are Winning

...bad news for Democrats.
It looks like we might be turning the corner on Iraq.

Technically, that corner being turned is here in the US. it's opinion, not reality. The real corner got turned a while ago.

re: #27 Shiplord Kirel

OT

Here's a real coffee-spewer of a cartoon from the NY Post:

Democrat Family Portrait

I love Ramirez' cartoons!
And is that supposed to be Hillary in the front, with her head up the chicken's, uh, up the chicken?
LOL

I love reading Michael Yon's writing, I sent him $150 and my wife gave me Hell, but he's worth it.

Maximu§
3/11 ACR

re: #4 Crusader Rabbit

He may well have learned his lesson....but if he puts in for a medal for fighting a sack of rice, I'm calling 'foul!'

Sorta like John Kerry and his medals for non-combat injuries?

I've just had a scary thought: What if Beauchamp, when he returns to the States, runs for office?

this guy has an untrustworthy character. who could honestly say they would be comfortable serving w/ him?

re: #42 lobo91

re: #11 galloping granny

He is a Private E1 these days. Some of our brightest kids go IN to the army at a higher rank than that.

Beauchanp enlisted as a PFC (E-3), because he had 2 years of college.

He's one of the few people who manage to achieve a rank lower than what he started with.

That's the Armies pound of flesh, that he is now under guys he used to tell what to do. He stuck with his unit, that speaks volumes. Beauchamp learned something out the the experience, from Yon's report he learned the right lessons.

re: #46 NomadOfNorad

re: #4 Crusader Rabbit

He may well have learned his lesson....but if he puts in for a medal for fighting a sack of rice, I'm calling 'foul!'

Sorta like John Kerry and his medals for non-combat injuries?

I've just had a scary thought: What if Beauchamp, when he returns to the States, runs for office?

Pundits/Comedians/Cartoonists would consider that a target rich environment.

lobo91,

Beauchanp enlisted as a PFC (E-3), because he had 2 years of college.

He's one of the few people who manage to achieve a rank lower than what he started with.

How does a private get demoted?

TNR,

If Michael Yon called me and my shop a group of cowards, I'd call a mandatory all-hands meeting, do some serious soul-searching and correct course, post haste.

re: #47 nyc redneck

this guy has an untrustworthy character. who could honestly say they would be comfortable serving w/ him?

Sure. Who do you think gets to go first?

re: #46 NomadOfNorad

re: #4 Crusader Rabbit

He may well have learned his lesson....but if he puts in for a medal for fighting a sack of rice, I'm calling 'foul!'

Sorta like John Kerry and his medals for non-combat injuries?

I've just had a scary thought: What if Beauchamp, when he returns to the States, runs for office?

I too am concerned that he might NOT learn his lesson, and might even someday, like John Kerry, run for President of the US, with the support of leftist lunatics who willl portray and defend him as a war hero. The solution? Get full his disclosure on the record, unambiguously, admitting that he lied through his teeth. Otherwise, the MSM may someday make him into a hero. Again, consider what John Kerry was able to pull off!

John McCain on Beauchamp and TNR:

McCain: I would just be shocked that something like that would occur at The New Republic, that the stories wouldn’t check out.

Me: Senator, you sound like you’re smirking as you say that.

McCain: (laughing) I’m shocked that gambling would be taking place in that establishment.

LOL

re: #51 rappmandu

TNR,

If Michael Yon called me and my shop a group of cowards, I'd call a mandatory all-hands meeting, do some serious soul-searching and correct course, post haste.

Three words for you:

Not.gonna.happen.

I was surprised to see this Yon dispatch this morning. After reading through it (I just finished posting it on our site with a couple of thoughts) I have to admit that Mr. Yon is right -- we can all take the lesson of second chances away from this piece. (I'd also note that there is a spot in the dispatch where the LTC Yon is talking with assures him there will be no third chances.)

Beauchamp, according to the LTC, fessed up, accepted the punishment that was handed down, and was given a choice to return here, or stay in Iraq and do his job. He chose the latter, and according to the LTC, he had always been an ideal slodier. No doubt this is the worst part of his "punishment" when he has to win back to the trust of his compatriots. After all, he was the one who maligned them.

While we may share a tad bit of disdain for Beauchamp, this sheds a new light on those transcripts released yesterday. Beauchmap's own words showed he wanted to move on from this; he wanted it to go away. We naturally assumed it was because, like TNR, he was running scared. I posit that as a false assmuption. I think in reality why he wanted it to go away is because you can't have a fresh start if people keep bringing up the past. TNR editors Foer and Scoblic clearly didn't want him recanting his story, and they wanted him to back them up.

Those transcripts are Beauchamp's way of telling TNR to go pound sand, and that he won't be giving them any cover. They f*cked up by not checking the story thoroughly, and seeking the advice of military people who could have told them the story was bogus. Instead they ran with it because inherently, like any other left-wing cage liner, they had a hot story driven by their own personal agenda. That agenda included painting our troops in a bad light.

I'll take what Michael Yon says to heart, and we can forgive Beauchamp his mistake. However, we agree with Michael Yon -- the scalps of the editors at TNR would make a fine Daniel Boone hat.

That is some serious class on display by those platoon-mates and their commander. Speaking as someone who has admired TNR through much of my adult life, I have to say that they are not in the same moral ballpark as the troops they are trying to tear down.

re: #44 gop_patriot

re: #27 Shiplord Kirel

OT

Here's a real coffee-spewer of a cartoon from the NY Post:

Democrat Family Portrait

I love Ramirez' cartoons!
And is that supposed to be Hillary in the front, with her head up the chicken's, uh, up the chicken?
LOL

I think it might be Pelosi. Isn't there a chicken ranch or something in her family's business empire?

Seems to me that Michael Yon has it right. Beauchamp screwed up big-time by writing those fictions, but TNR screwed up worse by publishing them, and continues to screw up by standing by them.

And Beauchamp, to his credit, is apparently trying to make amends for his bad behavior by staying on in Iraq, and doing the job he ostensibly enlisted to do. There's no doubt he is under the microscope now.

Maybe Scotty is beginning to grow up.

re: #50 Dirk Diggler

How does a private get demoted?

The same way anyone else does either as a result of a court-martial verdict, or an Article 15.

I'm fairly certain that he's had two Article 15s during the 18 moths or so he's been in. At the time of this most recent incident, he was an E-2. He's now an E-1. Fairly simple math.

TNR had to shop around for military malcontents in order to bolster their ideaology...

On the whole military malcontents tend to be vastly unreliable. Just ask the military.

Re: #59 Shiplord

ROFLMSFAO! I had to print that out. The wife is gonna lose it when she sees that today. Stark in the straitjacket is spot on.

OT: I'm having problems with Google/Maps - Israel.
Maybe it's because of the new report on Drudge regarding google earth. Maybe not. The map comes up blank, however the sat photo comes up loaded.

And now for some old fashioned fun....

Trunk Monkey... Bet TNR wishes they had one for Beauchamp

Linked to this story at Censorship Update 10/25/07 under the Media Disinformation header. One way of shutting down anybody who doesn't agree with you is to flood the print media, the airwaves, the blogosphere,
and so forth, with so much nonsense and disinformation that nothing else can get through!

BTW, this de facto censorship technique is well known to "black hat" SEO people and to "reputation management" outfits.

True he is serving out his term, very commendable.

However he has not come out and said to the public that he lied earlier, or that he's sorry. I'm not likely to think that he has become a better person until he does so.

That's an excellent post, but then, it's from Mr. Yon, so no surprise.

Speaking TNR being hounded and treed, I like to think of it as catted and treed.

Another interesting note, reading between the lines of Yon's post: He mentions Beauchamp's former company commander, which implies that Beauchamp was reassigned to a different company in the battalion.

Not at all surprising, under the circumstances, but a number of people last night asked why he had been left in the same unit. It appears that he wasn't.

re: #56 lawhawk

re: #56 lawhawk

Whew! Thanks for the reassurance. It'd suck to have Yon call me that. ;)

I really like this column by Yon.
Deep, classy, compassionate.
It might help the useful idiot (Beauchamp) to understand himself (and the tricks and traps of the Media Matrix) better.

This is the GREAT humanism that makes the West GREAT.

/as opposed to the cheap and fake humanism of the PC nihilists

re: #59 Shiplord Kirel

I think it might be Pelosi. Isn't there a chicken ranch or something in her family's business empire?

HAHA! Just as good. Don't know about the chicken ranch empire, going to go look.

what a boring news day....something happen!

TNR is the villain here.
Beauchamp is a twenty-something junior soldier, working in a dangerous and stressful situation.
TNR is a big media collective with a weighty reputation and a staff of highly-paid and highly-educated professionals. It is an elite organization that allowed itself to be taken in by tall tales of the kind soldiers have delighted in telling to gullible civilians since the dawn of history.
Beauchamp made serious errors of character and judgment but he deserves another chance. TNR willfully disregarded standards they could, and should, have easily upheld. They are institutionally corrupt and they will not even acknowledge their guilt. There is no redemption for them.

Yon, is an excellent person and war correspondent. Due to my respect for Yon, I am ok with beuchamps 2nd chance from the Army and his comrades. But! I for one would not trust that smarmy, self centered POS beuchamp as far as I could throw him, and I'm not that strong. And another thing as far as the lies or whatever they want to refer to it as, his writing sucked anyway. I've read better 8th grade C minus compositions than scottys writing.

I say let scott beuchamp go to the trash file of life and stay there.

OT:

I know Canada has her share of problems, but we really are a remarkable people in many ways. Consider Quebec City with a metro population of 717,000 people. So far this year their homicide total is.... zero.

Zero homicides in a city the size of Baltimore (which has around 300 murders). There is every possibility this will continue until the end of the year.

If nothing else, Canadians know how to live in peace with each other. We're the anti-Palestinians.

Mr. Yong hits it on the head. Beauchamp's comrades have displayed the kind of class I expect from our brave soldiers and our media can't fathom.
Meanwhile the TNR cockroaches scramble for cover...

I sincerely hope Scott Beauchamp has learned from all this. The fact he's chosen to remain with his unit and do his duty is a good start towards recovering his honor. He could have cut and run and didn't. I give him credit for that.

#27 Shiplord Kirel 10/25/07 10:32:28 am reply quote report 1

OT

Here's a real coffee-spewer of a cartoon from the NY Post:

Democrat Family Portrait

HILARIOUS - ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS! re: #27 Shiplord Kirel

OT

Here's a real coffee-spewer of a cartoon from the NY Post:

Democrat Family Portrait

I love M. Yon, I disagree with him the Iraq is now/ever was in a civil war, I have a brother, nephew, cousin and 2 close friends who are either over there or were and who's service covers from the day the first boot hit the ground till now and they've been spread throughout the country and not a single one of them call it a civil war, but I love his coverage. You know, doing the coverage the MSLM won't do.

I'm willing to give STB a second chance, the moment after he publicly retracts and apologizes to the public and his fellow soldiers. Not a nano-second before. Till that date, he's scum, only a short step above your average moonbat/surrender monkey (at least he's still fighting for America)!

How low is this?

Pelosi playing politics with the SoCal fires...

WASHINGTON -- More than a dozen Republican House members from Southern California are criticizing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for scheduling a vote on an important children's health insurance program for Thursday.

Some of the Republicans won't be able to participate because they will be in California along with President George W. Bush to visit wildfire areas and help constituents.

U.S. Reps. Jerry Lewis of Redlands, David Dreier of San Dimas, Brian Bilbray of San Diego and nine others asked Pelosi to postpone the vote on overriding Bush's veto of an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Last week the House fell 13 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed and Pelosi plans to try again Thursday.

Pelosi defended her decision, telling a press conference that it's appropriate for the Republicans to be home in their districts but also appropriate for the House to go forward with the vote. The San Francisco Democrat said the missing lawmakers' votes wouldn't affect the outcome.

re: #44 gop_patriot

re: #27 Shiplord Kirel

OT

I love Ramirez' cartoons!
And is that supposed to be Hillary in the front, with her head up the chicken's, uh, up the chicken?
LOL

I thought it was supposed to be Speaker Palosi.

Beauchamp may deserve some redemption and the fact he's still there tells me something.

TNR is another story. They deserve nothing but enmity, scorn, derision and bankruptcy, like most of the perfidious media.

I wonder what Beauchamp's unit's nickname for him was before this whole thing and whether he has been renamed since.

re: #83 rappmandu

I wonder what Beauchamp's unit's nickname for him was before this whole thing and whether he has been renamed since.

Knowing the military...probably Hemingway

Maybe Scotty will do his time,come home,do an about face and take the six figure job spewing even more vile bullshit while proclaiming he was under pressure to stay and lie about what he saw...he could be the next John Kerry!

How fast will the left rush to judgment if by chance something happens to Beauchamp?

re: #85 gibsonz

Maybe Scotty will do his time,come home,do an about face and take the six figure job spewing even more vile bullshit while proclaiming he was under pressure to stay and lie about what he saw...he could be the next John Kerry!

That's why I won't redeem him until he publicly apologizes/recants. Without that, he'll come back and start spewing how he was silenced by the military and his not standing by the story was forced.

Re: #86 Jammie

If anything happens to Beauchamp, you can count on Foer trotting out his wife with a vitriol filled piece blaming a fellow squadmate for fragging him, or some other piece of pap from the cage-liner.

re: #59 Shiplord Kirel

I couldn't find anything about a chicken ranch. Her Wiki (I know, I know) page says that her dad was from Maryland and her mom emigrated from Italy, etc., etc. It seems like they went from Maryland to NYC to SF, not sure how far back the chicken ranch was/is.

Someone with better Google-Fu skillz might actually find something out though. lol

From Wikipedia:

Early life and career

Pelosi was born to Italian-American parents in Baltimore, Maryland.[1] The youngest of six children, she was involved with politics from an early age. Her father, Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., was a U.S. Congressman from Maryland and a Mayor of Baltimore. Her mother, Anunciata, was born in Italy and immigrated to the U.S. in 1911.[2] Thomas L. J. D'Alesandro III, one of her five brothers, also served as Mayor of Baltimore from 1967 to 1971.
Pelosi graduated from Baltimore's Institute of Notre Dame high school and from Trinity College (now Trinity Washington University) in Washington, D.C. in 1962. Pelosi interned for Senator Daniel Brewster (D-Maryland) alongside future House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.[3] She met Paul Pelosi while she was attending Trinity College, and then Georgetown University. They married in a Catholic Church on September 7, 1963. After the couple married they moved to New York, and then to San Francisco in 1969, where his brother Ronald Pelosi was a member of the city's board of supervisors[4] (San Francisco city and county council).
After moving to San Francisco, Pelosi worked her way up in Democratic politics. She was elected as party chairwoman for Northern California on January 30, 1977. She later joined forces with one of the leaders of the California Democratic Party, 5th District Congressman Phillip Burton. And in 1987, after her youngest child became a high school senior, she decided to run for political office.
Pelosi is an honorary board member of the National Organization of Italian American Women.

re: #69 lobo91

Another interesting note, reading between the lines of Yon's post: He mentions Beauchamp's former company commander, which implies that Beauchamp was reassigned to a different company in the battalion.

Not at all surprising, under the circumstances, but a number of people last night asked why he had been left in the same unit. It appears that he wasn't.

Nobody in their right mind could possibly have expected him to remain unscathed in his old unit. I'm sure he has no friends in this new one.

lobo91,

The same way anyone else does either as a result of a court-martial verdict, or an Article 15.

Which means what exactly? What kind of actions can warrant a court martial or Article 15 hearing for a private.

Land Shark,

I sincerely hope Scott Beauchamp has learned from all this. The fact he's chosen to remain with his unit and do his duty is a good start towards recovering his honor. He could have cut and run and didn't. I give him credit for that.

Yeah, after doing his damndest to smear them all as freaks and psychos and the mission that they are fighting for as a lost cause run by incompetents.

Oh and by the way Beauchamps line about caring for the men on his "left and his right" was probably lifted from the 2002 remake of "The Four Feathers".

In the heat of battle it ceases to be an idea for which we fight. Or a flag. Rather we fight for the man on our left, and we fight for the man on our right.

#73 edomswim 10/25/07 10:59:14 am reply quote report 0

what a boring news day....something happen!

Skakel, the convicted killer had his latest appeal shot down. I'm happy for the Moxley family. Good news.
re: #73 edomswim

re: #61 lobo91

Quick primer/refresher of enlisted rank for those interested.

re: #34 Killgore Trout

Good news for America.....

War on Terror Update

43% Say U.S. Winning the War on Terror, 30% Say Terrorists Are Winning

...bad news for Democrats.
It looks like we might be turning the corner on Iraq.

Technically, that corner being turned is here in the US. it's opinion, not reality. The real corner got turned a while ago.

yikes, sudden repost syndrome , how'd that happen

Absolute first-rate sanity and sense. Bravo.

I would LOVE to see "journalists" put under the same kind of litiginous pressure that we doctors have to deal with every day vis a vis malpractice.

'cause if ANYONE has committed gross negligence and malpractice in the performance of their job, it's Foer et al.

Good for Beauchimp for staying. I hope he comes to his senses and at least speaks truth about the people he serves with. I wonder how old Elspeth likes the fact that he is staying?

Yon - great guy, great reporter, love his work

tnr - needs to lose it's business

beauchamp - I believe in redemption on this but that doesn't mean he has to still serve in a capacity that he still could so closely potentially risk his fellow soldiers lives and maybe later, their integrity. Just think if he were around the haditha marines at the time.......

Him being there still doesn't say much to me since I do not know what Exactly went on behind closed doors. I don't trust him not to get out of the service later and smear the people he worked with since he did it before. There is no way I would have wanted to be around him doing such a sticky life threatening job after what he did and I wouldn't feel guilty for feeling that way either. There is too much at stake here......

re: #68 Catttt

That's an excellent post, but then, it's from Mr. Yon, so no surprise.

Speaking TNR being hounded and treed, I like to think of it as catted and treed.

Fantastic photograph!

Beauchamp has learned a very important lesson the hard way.

Today's liberal media is like genital herpes. For that 10-15 minutes of the conquering excitement, sooner or later you wake up to the fact that you've just been scarred for life.

Even though the world "hates us", they're lining up to come on board.

Mongolia Joins American Empire

re: #100 MandyManners

re: #68 Catttt

That's an excellent post, but then, it's from Mr. Yon, so no surprise.

Speaking TNR being hounded and treed, I like to think of it as catted and treed.

Fantastic photograph!

It sure is! ROFLMAO!

re: #16 galloping granny

Hardly! Reeve can write; Beauchamp cannot.

Or haven't you noticed? She worked like hell to get where she was, and it's all gone, now. It doesn't matter if she's as pure as the driven snow on this, she's toast, and she's never working in journalism again.

TNR threw her under the bus weeks ago.

re: #23 friarstale

According to earlier reports Beauchamp joined the military to earn some "street cred" and be able to write whatever crap he wanted.

I also am willing to let the men and his unit commander determine the length and extent of his penance. It is commendable that he is willing to stay and do that at some risk to himself.

And of course, he could just be postpoing what is going to happen to him when he gets home. That NR fact checker is not his fiance but is his wife as I understand it. Its hard to see that lasting but hey ....

re: #104 Dianna

re: #16 galloping granny

Hardly! Reeve can write; Beauchamp cannot.

Or haven't you noticed? She worked like hell to get where she was, and it's all gone, now. It doesn't matter if she's as pure as the driven snow on this, she's toast, and she's never working in journalism again.

TNR threw her under the bus weeks ago.

She can become a snarky, edgy, leftwing blogger.

That or marry Ted Ral.

re: #104 Dianna

re: #16 galloping granny

Hardly! Reeve can write; Beauchamp cannot.

Or haven't you noticed? She worked like hell to get where she was, and it's all gone, now. It doesn't matter if she's as pure as the driven snow on this, she's toast, and she's never working in journalism again.

TNR threw her under the bus weeks ago.

Read the transcripts Dianna. She seems to be the TNR point of contact with Scott most of the time and he assures them that what he told her was true.

re: #85 gibsonz

Maybe Scotty will do his time,come home,do an about face and take the six figure job spewing even more vile bullshit while proclaiming he was under pressure to stay and lie about what he saw...he could be the next John Kerry!

I've worked with some people in the private sector that did much less than this and they were immediately walked out the door.

just this morning I woke to rockets launching from nearby and landing on an American base. Who has time to skin Beauchamp? We need him on his post and focused.

amen.

This is a very gracious position taken by Mr. Yon.

re: #57 MrAndMrsSmith

Those transcripts are Beauchamp's way of telling TNR to go pound sand

I read them differently. I saw a sniveling coward trying to make it all go away. He looks like a sneak who stumbled across the inconvenient truth that the people he set out to betray are actually the ones worth serving. Now he wants some buddy-buddy relationship with them.

I predict he will get out of the Army and try Hollywood. I bet he's already got some lame sci-fi script taking shape on his hard drive.

Socky McSockpuppet (aka Glenn Greenwald) weighs in and finds reason to wring his hands over right wing blogs and their ties to the military (or is it the other way around).

Never mind that TNR lied, Beauchamp lied, and he's besmirching Bob Owens for raising questions (and answering them) about what really happened and whether anything TNR printed on Beauchamp's behalf was accurate.

It's the right wing noise machine mind you. That's the real threat.

Not lies and omissions by the media types at TNR.

He throws in Bilal Hussein for good measure (though he omits the part about his capture while in cahoots with terrorists in Iraq).

re: #110 squarepeg

re: #57 MrAndMrsSmith

Those transcripts are Beauchamp's way of telling TNR to go pound sand

I read them differently. I saw a sniveling coward trying to make it all go away. He looks like a sneak who stumbled across the inconvenient truth that the people he set out to betray are actually the ones worth serving. Now he wants some buddy-buddy relationship with them.

I predict he will get out of the Army and try Hollywood. I bet he's already got some lame sci-fi script taking shape on his hard drive.

A sequel to that Elron Hubbard movie with John Travolta?

re: #104 Dianna

TNR threw her under the bus weeks ago.

Dianna, can you expound? I'm curious. btw, are they married? Beauchamp refers to her as his "wife" on the transcripts. In any case, I believe that marriage is over.

Looks like Beauchamp has decided to try to make amends, and his fellow soldiers have decided to give him a 2nd chance. Good enough for me.

TNR on the other hand, is another matter. My guess is his wife/handler did most of the writting, getting some vague annecdotes from him and maufacturing the tale from there, and putting his name on it. That's why it was so important to her that he not recant. If you go back and reread the comments by the editors about her supposed note to her husband, she was not telling him to tell the truth (like any loving wife would) but to not recant. And the editors did not work real hard to fact check anything.

TNR needs to pay a heavy price for this.

Beauchamp wrote some stupid stuff, failed miserably, and now he is cleaning off the dirt. I can accept that. I hope the second he comes home, he doesn't slander, libel, and smear though: A 'dog' returning to it's own vomit comes to mind.

As it is, if he comes back alive and continues to engage in honorable industries, I'll give him the pass.

#73 --what a boring news day....something happen!

A couple hundred thousand Californians evacuated due to fire, 1 billion dollars loss in San Diego county so far, enormous loss of wildlife and that's not enough news for you?

That soldiers have a lot more character and class than buttwipes like TNR goes without saying, of course. Still, Beauchamp showed his real character when he wrote the lies about his "buddies," unless anybody can convince me he would have been as apologetic had he not been discovered lying.

re: #88 MrAndMrsSmith

Considering that Elspeth was thrown under the bus, that can't happen.

To Michael Yon, I say this: yes sir.

re: #59 Shiplord Kirel

re: #44 gop_patriot

re: #27 Shiplord Kirel

OTHere's a real coffee-spewer of a cartoon from the NY Post:

Democrat Family Portrait

I love Ramirez' cartoons!
And is that supposed to be Hillary in the front, with her head up the chicken's, uh, up the chicken?
LOL

I think it might be Pelosi. Isn't there a chicken ranch or something in her family's business empire?

Pelosi is fishing (tuna), Hill and Bill are tied to Tyson (chicken).

re: #118 Dianna

re: #88 MrAndMrsSmith

Considering that Elspeth was thrown under the bus, that can't happen.

What'd they do? What'd they do?

/jumping up and down

re: #109 mama winger

just this morning I woke to rockets launching from nearby and landing on an American base. Who has time to skin Beauchamp? We need him on his post and focused.

amen.

This is a very gracious position taken by Mr. Yon.

It is gracious! Not something we'd see, for example, from Bobby Calvan.

I am glad that we all get second chances. And thirds.

I myself am on my 78th.

Not to say that we re not to be held accountable for the actions we take. But it is good to live in a land where people are more than willing to give you a shot if you show good faith.

I wish this soldier well, and hope that he performs his duties from this day forth with honor.

re: #117 Clubbeaux

Exactly.

re: #106 JammieWearingFool

Real sweet, tolerant, charitable and understanding of you.

She's said nothing, and made no attempt to spin this to her advantage, or even tried to defend herself. Considering the unfounded, vitriolic and unfounded speculations spewed about her, I think that says more about her than having made a bad romantic decision.

Beauchamp did not repudiate the story... He didn't deny the story. Nor did he say that what he wrote was a lie. All he said in the transcripts was that he wouldn't talk about it.

He is still neither confirming or denying the veracity of the stories he wrote.

I also suspect that he will get out and write another false story, condemning his fellow soldiers and the US military. and that is the reason why he won't recant what he wrote. If he does, he is finished completely as a writer, but if he doesn't, he can claim that he withstood the harsh treatment of his fellow soldiers when they discovered "he wrote the truth about their behavior".

I say f**k him. He hasn't come clean and any soldier fighting along side of him should watch his back.

Beauchamp is young; under pressure he made a dumb mistake.

Yeah, well no.

He didn't just make a "dumb mistake". He intentionally and repeatedly wrote lies to discredit his fellow soldiers and the Army in general.

And for which he has refused to apologize and has not seen fit to set the record straight about those lies.

re: #27 Shiplord Kirel

OT

Here's a real coffee-spewer of a cartoon from the NY Post:

Democrat Family Portrait

LOL - Ramirez is a true satirist. Gallery

This is starting to sound like another recent thread hehe. Lying in public to deface someone and refusing to publically set the record straight.

Well, sure, second chances are nice, and all that.

But would you really want Beauchamp watching your back in Sadr City?

Mixed feelings here. But Yon is magnanimous, and as others have noted, this does illustrate an enormous difference between conservatives and the left.

re: #113 squarepeg

Yes, they're married. Evidently, they married while he was on leave, and were planning a formal ceremony for October.

According to Bryan at Hot Air, who found it via a friend of Elspeth's Face Book page (the friend's page, in case I've become antecedently challenged again), she was fired about six weeks ago. She's certainly no longer listed on the masthead.

It is simply amazing (in a good way) that the U.S. military is still trying to make something of a man - using the term loosely - who would so sell out his fellow soldiers in search of some pathetic ideological goal. The great irony is that the leftists he tried to suck up to are happy to let him twist in the wind once his usefulness is over, while the military he so maligned is willing to let him try to redeem himself. The latter is what makes this country great, despite the constant false and choreographed hair-pulling of the former.

re: #130 Occasional Reader

Well, sure, second chances are nice, and all that.

But would you really want Beauchamp watching your back in Sadr City?

There are some in each unit who for whatever reasons are not a soldier's first choice for back-watcher. Some are less competent than others, some are more fearful. Some are less well-trained, some just got a letter from back home saying that their sweetheart has found someone else.

Soldiers adapt - they learn to work with what they have. I'm sure his unit will do what they need to do to bring him up to par.

They'll take care of it.

re: #133 mama winger

I suppose you're right. You are gracious as always.

i could forgive him but i would not want to have to depend on him in life and death situations of war. he has said such negative slanderous lies abt. his fellow soldiers. reminds me of jon cary. where could such sentiments come from in the first place but their true feelings? i'm stunned he was allowed to stay in the military.

re: #107 galloping granny

I've followed this closely; I wouldn't believe Franklin Foer (who was trying to pressure Beauchamp) if he told me the sun rose in the east. Seriously, until I see the actual e-mail, I'm not buying it.

Look, we know too little. Reeves' silence is interesting to me; it's allowing a lot of people to project whatever they want onto it.

What we know is that she introduced Foer and Beauchamp. After that, from what I understand, she should have had no contact with his submissions. Even TNR should follow the practice of walling spouses off from each others' material.

In addition, foreign affairs was not Reeves' beat. One of the things I've found is that reporters live in little, tiny beat-bubbles. They know very little about what's outside their bubble (which should be apparent from the perfectly idiotic things reporters write and say). In short, I much doubt that Elspeth Reeve had anything to do with the Diaries.

Not that this matters. She's tainted beyond hope for her career.

re: #134 Occasional Reader

Well - I wasn't always that way. Until I got this subscription.

re: #133 mama winger

They'll take care of it.

And they will have the quality of character to keep it in-house too. Which Beauchamp had also better do after he gets out, if he is sincere about taking care of his fellow soldiers and doing his job.

re: #135 nyc redneck

i could forgive him but i would not want to have to depend on him in life and death situations of war. he has said such negative slanderous lies abt. his fellow soldiers. reminds me of jon cary. where could such sentiments come from in the first place but their true feelings? i'm stunned he was allowed to stay in the military.

The military does not discharge people just because they are idiots. What surprises me is that he has managed to stay out of Leavenworth over this. But then, he has not yet done so. I don't hear any singing yet.

I would also be very surprised if he was doing anything where he ever left the base again or where anyone ever had to depend on him for more than unloading MREs and peeling spuds.

re: #138 3 wood

Exactly.

OT - From NRO's The Corner:
University of Delaware professor dismissed from panel because he served in the IDF. One guess who made the complaint.

re: #114 3 wood

No, she didn't write it.

Read her material. There's no way she wrote that crap. It's too bad.

re: #139 galloping granny

No more spud-peeling. Everything's catered by Halliburton. :)

re: #139 galloping granny

"peeling spuds" ha ha ha. ok. that would be appropriate

re: #136 Dianna

In addition, foreign affairs was not Reeves' beat. One of the things I've found is that reporters live in little, tiny beat-bubbles. They know very little about what's outside their bubble (which should be apparent from the perfectly idiotic things reporters write and say). In short, I much doubt that Elspeth Reeve had anything to do with the Diaries.

I had not looked at it from that perspective. Interesting and thanks.

Probably, we will never know.

re: #136 Dianna

Not that this matters. She's tainted beyond hope for her career.

Maybe she could pull a Lynn Stewart and get to teach a seminar about journalism ethics.

Is there a possibility that Beauchamp's GF/secret wife did the writing, and he just spun a few tall tales that she greatly embellished?

re: #125 Dianna

re: #106 JammieWearingFool

Real sweet, tolerant, charitable and understanding of you.

?

I think I was intending to reply to someone else or misinterpreted something in one of those multiple quotes.

If she's clean in all this, then I strike my earlier remark.

re: #111 lawhawk

But there is a secondary issue in this story that is being ignored -- how the U.S. military, like everything else, is becoming rapidly politicized, fully incorporated into and following the model of the Republican right-wing noise machine.

Yes, how dare the military fight back against the Democrats' politicization of the war!

Greenwald is an asswipe...

The New Republic treed like a bandit ... personally, I think they would make a nice Daniel Boone hat.

You like a hat with a white stripe down the middle, sure.

Yon's a class guy. And, well, even Beauchamp, maybe after all he was just a young dork, and could come out of this a good guy. The anti-phony soldier. Wouldn't that be something!

Dirk Diggler wrote-
Yeah, after doing his damndest to smear them all as freaks and psychos and the mission that they are fighting for as a lost cause run by incompetents.

No question about it. Beauchamp disgraced and dishonored himself with his lies. But at least he chose to remain and do his duty instead of running away. I still think he's slime, but if he does his duty and apologizes for his lies (I won't be holding my breath for that) he will recover some of his honor.

Hey, I used to be a clueless ignorant liberal fool myself. Hopefully he'll wise up like I did. :-)

Land Shark

re: #143 mama winger

re: #139 galloping granny

No more spud-peeling. Everything's catered by Halliburton. :)

Halliburton doesn't burn the latrines, LOL.

re: #149 lobo91

Greenwald is an asswipe...

I second that motion.

re: #143 mama winger

No more spud-peeling. Everything's catered by Halliburton. :)

Other than in basic training units, the Army hasn't had KP in several decades.

re: #147 Ed Mahmoud's Sock Puppet

No, Ed, there isn't. I'm pretty sure she didn't edit his pieces, either.

I've read everything of hers I could find, and I've read the Diaries. There is no way that Elspeth Reeve had anything to do with those. The prose is just awful! Hers is much, much better.

re: #111 lawhawk

Socky McSockpuppet (aka Glenn Greenwald) weighs in and finds reason to wring his hands over right wing blogs and their ties to the military (or is it the other way around).

Never mind that TNR lied, Beauchamp lied, and he's besmirching Bob Owens for raising questions (and answering them) about what really happened and whether anything TNR printed on Beauchamp's behalf was accurate.

It's the right wing noise machine mind you. That's the real threat.

Not lies and omissions by the media types at TNR.

He throws in Bilal Hussein for good measure (though he omits the part about his capture while in cahoots with terrorists in Iraq).

Good. I hope the media is close with rightwing blogs.

They're the only ones fairly and accurately reporting what's going on.

The boy from Brazil apparently takes issue with that.

Does this asshat expect anyone to be dialing up his friends looking to hand out scoops?

What the left blogs and assorted media outlets desperately need is adult supervision. Their playground is a mess.

re: #141 BeerDrinking_VictoryMonkey

From Khan's whining e-mail:

I am also not
sure how I feel about being on the same panel with
an Israeli soldier who was stationed in West Bank.
Some people see IDF as an occupying force in the
West Bank. I am not sure that I will be comfortable
occupying the same space with him.

Awww, poor baby!

Yon has a good point. This episode may have actually made Beauchamp into a man, to his credit. It showed Franklin Foer and the editorial staff of TNR to be a pathetic bunch of little girls.

re: #148 JammieWearingFool

If she's clean in all this, then I strike my earlier remark.

We know nothing, at this point, of her role, beyond that she introduced her husband to Franklin Foer. I'm sick to death of the leaps people are making.

Leave the leaping to conclusions and guilt by association to the left.

re: #155 Dianna

I've read everything of hers I could find, and I've read the Diaries. There is no way that Elspeth Reeve had anything to do with those. The prose is just awful! Hers is much, much better.

Well, my area of expertise is economics, not writing (as anyone who reads my stuff can tell), so I respect your take on this.

re: #142 Dianna

re: #114 3 wood

No, she didn't write it.

Read her material. There's no way she wrote that crap. It's too bad.

Maybe she did not write it. Maybe she only repeated it. Or maybe she DID write it and did so deliberately badly so that no one would pick up on the fact that she wrote it. People ghost write all the time. Or maybe she got the emails and forwarded them along. She apparently was more than ready to believe it at any rate.

And let me tell you something from the perspective of an Army wife: one of the very first things that you learn is that there are and always will be things that your husband cannot or will not tell you. If you are married to someone in a sensitive field, then the Army itself will inform you of this. And when your soldier is deployed, the very first thing the families are told is that you probably will not even be allowed to know exactly where they are. There is no way that she did not know that. She should have had serious questions the minute she started hearing this stuff.

No matter how you cut it up, she married an ass and now she will pay. Maybe her BS detector will become a little more fine-tuned through this experience.

No sympathy here.

re: #97 Babydoc97

Amen to that.

re: #161 galloping granny

Look, if you want to write a novel, go ahead. I've worked out three different short stories using this situation as a basis; tweak the characterizations, and the plot changes, as does the point of the story.

But what you're doing is imputing guilt to silence, and making a very young woman more devious than a dyed in the wool machiavell.

As to your other points: 1) much of your army wife perspective is interesting, but it doesn't have a thing to do with this story. 2) On what basis would Elspeth Reeve know what to question? The sheer ignorance of liberal arts major reporters about the military is amazing; for heaven's sake, their fact checkers didn't understand enough about a Bradley to go outside and look at a dog!

Finally, you say:

No matter how you cut it up, she married an ass and now she will pay. Maybe her BS detector will become a little more fine-tuned through this experience.

No sympathy here.

Why no sympathy? She's had her life ruined, and a lot of people - who will cut her husband slack - are deciding that she's really the guilty party.

re: #141 BeerDrinking_VictoryMonkey

BDVM, that is in my backyard, interesting link.

Did you get that email I sent you?

You wonder why USA today doesn't carry Yon or Totten. Or the Wall Street Journal for that matter. Unless I missed it. They are where it is at on reporting from the Middle East.

re: #21 joncelli

Yeah, I agree, good for Beauchamp.

And he might be able to tell the truth in the future with a little more punch, for all this, and be very effective.

re: #163 Dianna

Oh gee her life has been ruined...Boo frickin Hoo...What about the reputations her husband attempted to ruin? Those don't count? What about the fact, not conjecture or supposition, that she was a fact checker and that the fact checkers at TNR (of which there were only three) totally and completely failed to check the facts because they preferred to publish a story that supported their twisted and perverted ideological views instead of reporting the TRUTH.

Actions have consequences, her life being ruined is a consequence of her own willingness to engage in a sick and perverted game of publishing anti-American anti-military propaganda and intentionally attempting to deceive the public into believing that they were reporting facts instead of ideologically driven propaganda.

No, she deserves no sympathy what so ever. Let her do what people all across this country have been doing for decades now as the manufacturing industry has been moved offshore, learn a new skill or trade and move on with her life.

re: #163 Dianna

re: #161 galloping granny

Look, if you want to write a novel, go ahead. I've worked out three different short stories using this situation as a basis; tweak the characterizations, and the plot changes, as does the point of the story.

But what you're doing is imputing guilt to silence, and making a very young woman more devious than a dyed in the wool machiavell.

What do you think makes your scenario any more realistic than mine & others? Or, since you are so concerned with Beauchamp's wife, perhaps she is someone you know?

As to your other points: 1) much of your army wife perspective is interesting, but it doesn't have a thing to do with this story.

Of course it has to do with the story. She was/is an Army wife. At the very minimum, she should have known enough to say "Should you be telling me this?"

2) On what basis would Elspeth Reeve know what to question? The sheer ignorance of liberal arts major reporters about the military is amazing; for heaven's sake, their fact checkers didn't understand enough about a Bradley to go outside and look at a dog!

That simply makes them stupid. It does not absolve them of any guilt that might attach. I have already outlined to you the basis on which as an Army wife, irrespective of any civilian job that she might hold, she would have been thoroughly informed as to things that could and or couldn't be said. She certainly should also have known enough to question the wisdom of Beauchamp (if that is indeed who actually wrote the tales) writing about such information about his own unit while he was in a war zone.

She must not only be ignorant in the usual manner of most liberal arts majors, she must be profoundly retarded when it comes to basic human interactions in society and self preservation instincts if all is as you perceive it to be.

Finally, you say:

No matter how you cut it up, she married an ass and now she will pay. Maybe her BS detector will become a little more fine-tuned through this experience.

No sympathy here.

Why no sympathy? She's had her life ruined, and a lot of people - who will cut her husband slack - are deciding that she's really the guilty party.

Living life is about learning. Everybody makes bad decisions and we all pay for them. Bad marriages, lousy divorces, rotten job choices. I'm not cutting her husband any slack and I don't see anyone else doing so. "Cutting slack" is absolving of blame. I haven't seen any of that. Just a general willingness to let him stand guard duty and do whatever other crap job they can find for him until his enlistment is up in the way of a "second chance." That is, assuming his enlistment IS ever up. As others have pointed out, it is beyond highly unusual to see someone enter the service an E3 and then be busted back to an E1. This indicates that the smallest screw up will land the guy in jail.

I haven't decided that she is "really the guilty party." However, she is also not the innocent party you seem to want her to be. If all she did was collect his emails and pass them along to her employers, SHE should have known better.

re: #167 doriangrey

Let's see: she's to blame for him?

Really?

Michael Yon is willing to cut him slack, and I have no problem with that. None. I have a huge problem with people throwing guilt on her. I guess it allows an outlet, but it's still not right.

her life being ruined is a consequence of her own willingness to engage in a sick and perverted game of publishing anti-American anti-military propaganda and intentionally attempting to deceive the public into believing that they were reporting facts instead of ideologically driven propaganda.

I have not encountered one piece of evidence that she was responsible for his articles. Not one.

So, let's re-examine what you're saying in light of "actions have consequences". If she's not responsible, and she didn't take any actions, why should she pay the consequences?

re: #1 friarstale

so does Scotty still have a chance to be Hemmingway some day?

I honestly think Michael Yon has a lock on the title of the best writer to come out of Iraq.

It seems if he really wants to make it right,and his fellow solders are giving him a chance to do just that who am I to say otherwise?
I truly hope he sees the terrible mistake he made for exactly what it was
and really wants to make it right.

re: #168 galloping granny

Once more, with feeling:

You're imputing guilt to silence. You are making assumptions that, frankly, aren't borne out by the evidence. Your experience is much more extensive, clearly, than hers; she married Beauchamp early in '07, in some haste, and what, precisely, she was told or counseled on is a question that hasn't even been addressed. Perhaps she "ought" to have known, but people "ought" to know a great many things they don't.

Yes, everyone makes bad decisions. No argument, obviously. This isn't just about bad romantic decisions, though. She's taking damage that there is no proof she deserves.

That's my issue.

As for this:

Or, since you are so concerned with Beauchamp's wife, perhaps she is someone you know?

I wouldn't know Elspeth Reeve if she walked into my office right now. But I've read her work, and I've talked to people who work in journalism. This tells me that there is more than a small chance that she has nothing to do with the Diaries. Her story hasn't been told, by anyone including her, and it bothers me a lot to read people laying responsibility on her.

We're getting to the endgame, where there is the exoneration of the guilty and the scapegoating of the innocent. Elspeth Reeve appears to be the designated victim for a lot of people.

re: #168 galloping granny

"Cutting slack" is absolving of blame. I haven't seen any of that. Just a general willingness to let him stand guard duty and do whatever other crap job they can find for him until his enlistment is up in the way of a "second chance." That is, assuming his enlistment IS ever up.

He probably signed what we call a 4x4 contract, meaning 4 years of active duty followed by 4 years in the IRR.

If he actually goes into the IRR at the end of his enlistment, he has a better-than-even chance of getting called right back up and cross-leveled into a Guard or Reserve unit that's going overseas for another tour. They always need 11B privates.

Michael Yon expresses noble sentiments.
I agree with him.

The only time the Left media expresses noble sentiments, it's when they try to dress up thinly-disguised scorn for Evil Dick Cheney or Bushitler as thoughtful concern for the "troops".

Most of the time, it's not disguised, thinly or otherwise.

In the unfolding story I read about a girlfriend he lived with while courting via phone the TNR woman he later married.
Is that TNR woman still at TNR?
Scott will have to change his name yet again to get anything other than fiction published.
Is that what she bargained for?
I can't imagine he can rehabilitate himself within the anti-war TNR crowd by shutting up and staying in.
But good on him for sticking with the military.
Only time will tell if that was part of some scheme on his part.

re: #169 Dianna

Michael Yon is willing to cut him slack

Cutting a person slack is not the same has having sympathy for them. It is nothing more or less than the willingness to allow an individual to redeem themselves. More importantly Micheal's willingness to cut STB slack does not even remotely extend to any employee of TNR.

As for The New Republic, some on the staff may feel like they’ve been hounded and treed, but it’s hard to feel the same sympathy for a group of cowards who won’t fess up and can’t face the scorn of American combat soldiers who were injured by their collective lapse of judgment. It’s up to their readers to decide the ultimate fate.

I have not encountered one piece of evidence that she was responsible for his articles. Not one.

You are either being incredulous or intellectually dishonest. There were only three fact checker at TNR. It is very specifically the responsibility of the fact checkers to insure the validity of everything in any article before it is published.

The absolutely indisputable fact that the fact checkers at TNR completely and totally failed to verify the veracity of articles written by her husband, which it is simply inconceivable she was not privy to before publication, clearly indicates that yes she does in fact bear a direct responsibility for their publication.

re: #27 Shiplord Kirel

OT

Here's a real coffee-spewer of a cartoon from the NY Post:

Democrat Family Portrait

Where's G. Soros? He's like a pimp in the Democratic family tree.

As usual Michael Yon is on the right track.

I pray for his safety as we need to hear the truth.

I think Beauchamp has shut his mouth specifically because his counsel (TNR was nice enough to get him some) and/or supervising officers likely advised him to.

There is no cure for stupid, but he's probably learned his lesson about telling wild stories and betraying those around him.

What he did was bad, and wrong, but ultimately, it was just telling BS stories. Sure he violated operational security, but was anyone actually hurt by this? I don't think so. Maybe he hurt morale, but he didn't kill or physically injure anyone.

For his trouble, he got demoted, and his name permanently linked to this sordid scandal, effectively meaning he'll never hold a paid journalism job. (Maybe he can still write a book).

As to who is responsible, there is plenty of blame to go around here. Beauchamp is responsible for writing the BS to begin with, his wife is professionally responsible for being a poor fact-checker (IMO legitimate reason to be fired for cause in this case), and TNR is responsible not only for not properly vetting the story, but also for the coverup afterwards.

I am extremely glad that young man (Beauchamp) is getting a second chance. This will follow him the rest of his life. The truth and the lie will will always be intermixed and only he will always know what the truth really is. We can always say that we know what the truth is but we will never know.

I know. I too have a mistake that will follow me to the grave but even today almost 40 years after, I still get people who think know what happened but they always get the story wrong somewhere along the retelling of. Unfortunately the people who get it wrong are the ones closest to me.

I am not excusing what Beauchamp did. But if he is willing to face up to the mistake and try to make it right I will always give him my support.

The The New Republic on the other hand needs to be held accountable for the lapse of judgment arrogant hatred of the military.

re: #172 Dianna

re: #168 galloping granny

Once more, with feeling:

You're imputing guilt to silence. You are making assumptions that, frankly, aren't borne out by the evidence. Your experience is much more extensive, clearly, than hers; she married Beauchamp early in '07, in some haste, and what, precisely, she was told or counseled on is a question that hasn't even been addressed. Perhaps she "ought" to have known, but people "ought" to know a great many things they don't.

My experience of the US military was not always more extensive than hers is. I, too, and hundreds of thousands of women, was once a brand spanking new military wife. Many of us married in haste. She KNEW - as sure as G_d made little green apples. She simply could not have known. As did, BTW, Beauchamp.

Wanting to absolve her does not make her innocent.

Or, since you are so concerned with Beauchamp's wife, perhaps she is someone you know?

I wouldn't know Elspeth Reeve if she walked into my office right now. But I've read her work, and I've talked to people who work in journalism. This tells me that there is more than a small chance that she has nothing to do with the Diaries. Her story hasn't been told, by anyone including her, and it bothers me a lot to read people laying responsibility on her.

We're getting to the endgame, where there is the exoneration of the guilty and the scapegoating of the innocent. Elspeth Reeve appears to be the designated victim for a lot of people.

You are being facetious. For starters, I have seen nothing in quite some time to lead me to believe that there is a single individual anywhere working in journalism whose word is trustworthy on anything. And if that is tarring the innocent with a dirty brush, then the "innocent" need to start policing their own. There have been so many outright lies, doctored fauxtographs, "eye witness" accounts invented out of whole cloth, and more that "journalists" simply are not to be trusted.

And her story HAS been told. She worked for the company that published her husband's falsehoods. As a "fact checker." One that apparently was responsible for checking her husband's facts.

When you play, you pay.

A helluva good Daniel Boone hat for sure. I am an ARMY dad. I am willing to give the kid a chance if the LTC says so. Its the two faces, backstabbers and double talkers at TNR (et al) that I reserve my scorn for. TNR .... another CNN wannabe showing its true colors
Pitooooey
God bless our TROOPS!

The officers and soldiers around him are the best ones to judge whether he is truly contrite and has repented and wants to make things right. And they were the ones who were the targets of his lies, they should be the ones to decide whether he gets a second chance or not. I'm sure he went through hell once his identity was known. If they'll give him a second chance, so will I. The Army will keep him on a shorter leash and be watching him a bit closer now—if he sneezes wrong he'll be in the stockade.

re: #180 Steve

Scott is being given a chance to redeem himself, like you and Micheal Yon I am perfectly content to grant him that opportunity. From the tone of Micheal's article as well as an article I read over at Blackfive a month ago that suggests that STB understands just how serious his transgression was (probably didnt at the time, but now does) and is making a very real attempt at rehabilitating himself. Good for him.

Perhaps one day even his wife will find the courage and strength to publicly preform a mea culpa and earn the right to this same opportunity to redeem herself.

re: #184 doriangrey

I whole heartedly agree.

Just to throw this out a an after thought:

Young man meets nice girl. They get married. In wanting to impress his wife/lover/girlfriend he comes up with this story and finds that it impresses her greatly. Unfortunaltely the lie is jumped upon by people whose hatred of the military just happen to be in line with the story. And the rest is history.

Just a thought.

Steve

re: #185 Steve

re: #184 doriangrey

I whole heartedly agree.

Just to throw this out a an after thought:

Young man meets nice girl. They get married. In wanting to impress his wife/lover/girlfriend he comes up with this story and finds that it impresses her greatly. Unfortunaltely the lie is jumped upon by people whose hatred of the military just happen to be in line with the story. And the rest is history.

Just a thought.

Steve

Nice thought, but it doesn't wash.

Its one thing to make up a BS story to impress a girl; quite another to defame your comrades in a war zone.

This slimeball couldn't have made up POSITIVE stories about himself and his colleagues?

re: #10 njphonehome

And posts like this show the best the right has to offer. We can move on. We can forgive. We may not forget, but we won't shove it down your throat everyday of your life...if you know how to be humble. I will say I respect ANY person who can admit to being humbled, because it's certainly the hardest part of any defeat. And for that, I respect Beauchamp.

The left doesn't know, nor care to understand, the importance of being humble nor of being humbled. And because of that, they will never learn their lesson.

Never have I read in any tract of leftist ideology or heard from any of their speakers even the slightest reference to the concepts of repentance and forgiveness. These simply do not exist in their materialist conception of the human being. The individual who strays is either to be eliminated or re-educated, but never made to understand how he has harmed other individuals, because it is all for that soulless abstraction known by one name or another--the race, the class--as the collective.

Most on the contemporary right in America, even when not explicitly religious, still adhere to the notion of individual responsibility, and so they can test whether a person who has strayed repents; if the person does mend his ways, they can forgive.

Let's face it he is a traitor. A traitor to the USA, a traitor to the US Army, a traitor to his buddies that cover his back in battle.

He did more harm then the terrorists. You still have liberal commentaries that said "why his stories are fake, I believe it happen in Iraq and often not by him but by others."

Michael Yon is a true gentleman.

The Army might be exactly what Beauchamp needed. Only time will tell.

The commentators and others who are still hanging onto fabulism as their personal reality are probably beyond help.

re: #179 looking closely

What he did was bad, and wrong, but ultimately, it was just telling BS stories. Sure he violated operational security, but was anyone actually hurt by this? I don't think so. Maybe he hurt morale, but he didn't kill or physically injure anyone.

Oh, for God's sakes, look closer.

"Just telling bs stories"? Sure, and so did Tokyo Rose and Lord Haw-haw. No harm whatsoever in slandering troops in the field! His lies have gone halfway around the world while the truth is just getting its pants on. The left is still celebrating his "truth to power" moment and protecting him. America's enemies will certainly publish his slanders, but not his retractions.

If I tell everyone in town that you're a murdering, sadistic, desensitized liar, just chalk it up to a mere "bs story" that causes no physical harm, okay?

The army doesn't 't need a Beauchamp. What he did hurt the Army. He made his fellow warrior look like monster in the eye of the world. He did more harm then the terrorists. He should have been Court Marshal.

Echoing down some street in Iraq:

Beauchamp! You've got point!

re: #190 squarepeg

I think you are absolutely right in your comments. Sure the guy IS doing the right thing NOW by staying put and accepting responsibility, but that doesn't diminish whatsoever what he's done to his fellow soldiers and the military in general!

/btw, "lies have gone halfway around the world while the truth is just getting its pants on" should be in quotes. As in:

A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
— Mark Twain

(also sometimes attributed to Charles H. Spurgeon)

re: #3 galloping granny

Michael Yon is a sensible guy. And he is right about one thing. That Beauchamp is still walking around means that his buddies decided to give him a second chance to make things right.

Its been my experience that soldiers tend to put bravado and bluster asside, and count on the guys who can be trusted. If Beauchump was a worthless POS, they would have arranged for a blanket party marathon for him. Every one screws up. We all make mistakes and embarrass the heck out of family and friends.
Michael Yon thinks Scott won't get another chance, but something tells me he might. The kinship of brothers in battle is often deeper then family.

Beauchamp's not going to publically say anything while he is overseas with the Army. I think that if he did his buddies might think he was back-sliding, and forgetting his Job 1 was.

That is part of what he had to learn this year: young privates in rifle companies (11B) don't make public statements about anything. If the Army wanted him to make any public statements he would have been told all about that when he got his new MOS (46Q).

Yon is kind, perhaps too kind, as are Beauchamp's commander who seems to be running interference for him and his fellow soldiers if they are leaving him alone to get on with his actual job, soldiering.

Beauchamp knowingly fed the propaganda machine that portrays American soldiers in the worst possible light, both at home and abroad. He did immeasureable damage to the image of the American military and this will cost lives, although no specific deaths can be laid at his door. Leftists never erase denigrating comments about the military when proven wrong on the facts. Their negative feelings about the military live on forever and cause troop funding cuts and worse.

If Beauchamp now stays and fights instead of writes fiction in Iraq, then he is merely doing the job for which he signed up and is paid. This service in no way makes up for what he's done.

The only way he can atone is trying to repair the damage he's done. Until I see a full mea culpa with no weasel words from Beauchamp spelling out that he lied, because he perceived that was the fast track to being published in the left biased MSM, regrets the damage he's done and will make up for it by writing about the character and decency of 99.9% of U.S. armed forces, then he is not deserving of sympathy nor a second chance.

When he re-launches his writing career, if he writes the same brain dead drivel that the Left produces ad nauseam, then he has learned nothing.

After reading doc 1 my considered opinion was that Beauchamp was being a weasel for not following through on his commitment to TNR, regardless of consequences. After reading Michael's comments I have decided to suspend judgment: It is entirely possible that Beauchamp has taken the correct, but more difficult, path.

How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? Matthew 18:12

Charlie

Sorry, I'm not buying it. I have tremendous respect for Michael Yon. But Beauchamp is a leftist snake in sheeps clothing.

His lies will have caused untold deaths by deliberately inflaming jihadi sentiment. He and his moll from the New Republic were in on the deception from the outset. And now he pleads for forgiveness.

He's no better than the cretins that have been starting the SoCal fires.

It is good to believe in redemption.

Good all around, for everybody.

On the strength of the Yon's comments, and the comments of LTC Glaze, I will give Beauchamp the opportunity to redeem himself.

TNR Could redeem themselves as well.

I have more hope for Beauchamp's redemption, then I do for TNR's.

I am always impressed with Michael Yon and the honor in journalism he carries with him. It is exceedingly rare to see a man of his caliber that truly cares to report the unfiltered truth.

re: #73 edomswim

what a boring news day....something happen!

Careful what you wish for...

I was moved by Yon's message. Beauchamp is putting his life on the line, right now, for the men in his unit and for us. I don't know what motivated him to say what he did in the past but his decision to return to his unit has earned my deep respect.

re: #126 thgrant

Beauchamp did not repudiate the story... He didn't deny the story. Nor did he say that what he wrote was a lie. All he said in the transcripts was that he wouldn't talk about it.

He is still neither confirming or denying the veracity of the stories he wrote.

I also suspect that he will get out and write another false story, condemning his fellow soldiers and the US military. and that is the reason why he won't recant what he wrote. If he does, he is finished completely as a writer, but if he doesn't, he can claim that he withstood the harsh treatment of his fellow soldiers when they discovered "he wrote the truth about their behavior".

I say f**k him. He hasn't come clean and any soldier fighting along side of him should watch his back.

I have to agree.

From what I have read Beauchamp concocted smear stories for his own personal gain and gain for the left.

I believe Beauchamp will stay in the US Army solely to give creditability to himself.

Once he is discharged or “separated” from the US Army he will continue in his ways and besmirch the Troops for his personal gain – in politics or in the media.

Although I respect Mike Yon’s writing, I notice that Yon did Not Personally Interview Beauchamp for his post (he interviewed superior officers only – which is a big difference).

If Yon Interviews Beauchamp Personally and writes about the situation then I will reconsider my position.

One of the rules that I live by is 'always trust a man to be who is". The greatest predictor of future behavior is past behavior.

Kudos to his superiors if they recognize something in him that I don't see from here, and are able to look past his major lapse in ethics. Something worth working with to try to turn him into a better man. This young guy has a long way to go. I don't envy his journey to adulthood. It's not going to be pretty.

I read the documents, including the transcript of the phone conversation.

As a person with 3 of my 4 siblings having served in the Military (one still active), I can say that his complete refusal to ever comment on the stories to 'the media' again is a good move. NOT a great move, which would have been to repudiate what he wrote, but a good move nonetheless.
His decision and constant assertion in the transcript to stay focused on his "job" and to look out for the guy on his right and his left sounds like he has actually been hit by the GIANT cluebat of combat with the enemies of democracy and realized exactly who the real enemy of humanity is here.

I am willing to forget about him (which is a HUGE concession, BTW) and let him pick up the pieces of what is left of his life - the wife can't be too happy about his decision.
If his fellow soldiers can forgive him and look past his heinous stories, I can try to follow their example - they were the ones sinned against here.

I sincerely hope he stays strong in his newfound sanity and will chalk one up to God "hitting him with the divine Two-by-Four" and getting his attention, whether directly (Epiphany) or anonymously (Radical Realization).

As I am learning in my personal life through an excruciating trial:
"Bitterness towards someone is like drinking poison and hoping THEY die."