Scott Thomas Beauchamp

Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp&mdash;identified as Scott Thomas, Baghdad Diarist&mdash;"an Army private writing under a pseudonym about U.S. atrocities in Iraq", wrote anecdotes published by The New Republic, the last one being on July 13, 2007, entitled "Shock Troops".

The article's veracity was quickly attacked on July 18, 2007, by Michael Goldfarb of the neoconservative The Weekly Standard, and again on July 20, 2007. "While many of these questions have been formulated by people with ideological agendas, we recognize that there are legitimate concerns about journalistic accuracy," the Editors of TNR wrote August 10, 2007.

TNR's Editors wrote that they have attempted to investigate the matter, while,


 * "At the same time the military has stonewalled our efforts to get to the truth, it has leaked damaging information about Beauchamp to conservative bloggers. Earlier this week, The Weekly Standard's Michael Goldfarb published a report, based on a single anonymous 'military source close to the investigation,' entitled 'Beauchamp Recants,' claiming that Beauchamp 'signed a sworn statement admitting that all three articles he published in the New Republic were exaggerations and falsehoods--fabrications containing only 'a smidgen of truth,' in the words of our source.'"

"Here's what we know," TNR wrote on August 2, 2007:


 * "On July 26, Beauchamp told us that he signed several statements under what he described as pressure from the Army. He told us that these statements did not contradict his articles. Moreover, on the same day he signed these statements for the Army, he gave us a statement standing behind his articles, which we published at tnr.com. Goldfarb has written, 'It's pretty clear the New Republic is standing by a story that even the author does not stand by.' In fact, it is our understanding that Beauchamp continues to stand by his stories and insists that he has not recanted them. The Army, meanwhile, has refused our requests to see copies of the statements it obtained from Beauchamp--or even to publicly acknowledge that they exist."

Goldfarb's August 6, 2007, post concluded "Now that the military investigation has concluded, the great unanswered question in the affair is this: Did Scott Thomas Beauchamp lie under oath to U.S. Army investigators, or did he lie to his editors at the New Republic? Beauchamp has recanted under oath. Does the New Republic still stand by his stories?"

On August 10, 2007, TNR filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the U.S. Department of the Army "for all documents pertaining to its investigation of Beauchamp, particularly any statements Beauchamp had signed." Two months later, on October 10, 2007, TNR writes, it learned that its "FOIA request was finally under review by the appropriate office." In its October 26, 2007, update, TNR reported:


 * "It was as we were awaiting the documentary record of the Army’s investigation that the Army leaked several documents, including the September 6 transcript, to The Drudge Report, which incorrectly reported that the documents show that Beauchamp had recanted. In fact, they show no such thing, and Drudge soon removed the supporting documents from its website, and later its entire report."

Bloggers' Roundtable
In January 2007, New Media Outreach (NMO), a directorate of the American Forces Information Service (AFIS) within the Office of the Secretary of Defense "hosted" the first Bloggers' Roundtables, "conference calls for bloggers writing on Defense Department issues," Nikki Schwab wrote May 2, 2007, in the Washington Post.

Among the bloggers participating in the conference calls is The Weekly Standard's Michael Goldfarb. A Department of Defense transcript from the September 28, 2007, conference call with Colonel Ricky Gibbs, Commander, 4th Infantry Division Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Multi-National Division Baghdad, includes questioning by Goldfarb about Beauchamp:


 * GOLDFARB: I gotta ask you about Scott Beauchamp, and I'm wondering if you can tell me -- you know, the last we heard on this was that your command had prevented him from talking to the media. And I'm wondering if that is still the case, or if Beauchamp has been allowed to talk to his editors at the New Republic or if you can give me any information on that.


 * COL. GIBBS: Yes, Scott Beauchamp is one of my soldiers. Based upon what we saw in the -- in the news, we had -- those are not good things that soldiers should be doing. So we, as every good unit does, I directed an official investigation to determine, one, if in fact the -- what he said is true, we need to take actions to prevent further acts like that. We did an investigation, and we found that the incidents described in the article did not take place. He admitted those himself to the investigators, and so we proved that they were unfounded, and the soldier who wrote the piece has been counseled by the chain of command and allowed to assume his duties as an infantryman. He is not -- we can't -- we do not order them not to talk to the press. They can talk to the press. And our soldiers are the greatest advertisers for the Army, because they'll speak the truth and tell the truth in most cases. So I'm proud of the professionalism and dedication of our soldiers, and I'm satisfied that this brigade is conducting our operations with the utmost professionalism and dedication. And that soldier is still serving in his unit today.


 * GOLDFARB: Sir, I can just ask you a quick follow-up here. So first off, to be clear, he did admit that those things did not take place?


 * COL. GIBBS: He did admit to the investigating -- not to me, but to the investigator.


 * GOLDFARB: And can you speak at all, do you know if he's been in touch with the New Republic?


 * COL. GIBBS: I don't know. I've got 5,000 soldiers plus, so I don't see them all.

At the end of the session, Gibbs added the following:


 * COL. GIBBS: My guys handed me a note here to make sure I get the facts right here. I referenced Beauchamp, he did not officially recant what he said. But further statements from folks in his -- troopers in his company and chain of command proved that the allegations were unfounded. Make sure I get all the facts right.


 * Q Then can we be clear, did he admit that the stories were false or no? Is he standing by the stories?


 * COL. GIBBS: He's standing by the stories, but the investigation from his buddies that worked with him and other investigations proved the allegations were incorrect, unfounded.


 * Q Okay, so he is standing by the stories?


 * COL. GIBBS: Yeah.


 * Q Okay.


 * COL. GIBBS: We'll make sure we clarify that. Right now, no, he's not. He had admitted, no, but he's not standing by it now.


 * Q I'm confused, guys. Is he standing by the stories or hasn't he?


 * Q Has he recanted?


 * COL. GIBBS: No, he's not. No, he has not recanted. But he's not -- he's no longer standing by his story. He will not -- and he won't talk to the media, they say.


 * Q If he won't stand by --


 * COL. GIBBS: We're not -- we're not prohibiting him from doing that.


 * Q This is Marvin Hutchins. So if I can -- if I can maybe find a way to say this right. Are you saying that he's not -- that he's not been -- he's not standing by the story in public statements or anything, but he's admitting, I suppose in theory, that the investigation has proven that he was false, without coming out and saying, I made it all up?


 * COL. GIBBS: Yes. We have proven through an investigation of unbiased parties, official investigators, that the allegations are unfounded.

Goldfarb's follow-up to this Bloggers' Roundtable session was published the same day, September 28, 2007, in The Weekly Standard, entitled "Col. Gibbs: Beauchamp Recanted, No He Didn't???"

Articles by "Scott Thomas"

 * "War Bonds," The New Republic, January 29, 2007.
 * "Dead of Night. The Zombie Dogs of Baghdad," The New Republic, June 7, 2007.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Steven A. Boylan

External articles

 * Andrew Sullivan, "The Scott Thomas Fooferaw," The Daily Dish/The Atlantic, July 26, 2007.
 * "'Scott Thomas' - Engaged to TNR Staffer?" Little Green Footballs Blog, July 26, 2007.
 * Paul McLeary, "More Beauchamp! (sorry…), Why do conservatives hate the troops?" Columbia Journalism Review, July 27, 2007.
 * Howard Kurtz, "Army Private Discloses He Is New Republic's Baghdad Diarist," Washington Post, July 27, 2007.
 * Hart Williams, "Wingnut Smear on Columbia Journalism Review," The Democratic Daily Blog, July 29, 2007.
 * Max Blumenthal, "UPDATED: Weekly Standard used alleged former male escort Matt Sanchez as source to attack credibility of a TNR 'Baghdad Diarist'," Media Matters for America, August 2, 2007.
 * Michael Goldfarb, "TNR's 'Investigation' Reveals Beauchamp Was Always a Monster," The Weekly Standard, August 2, 2007.
 * Steve Benen, "The ‘Scott Thomas’ affair takes a twist," The Carpetbagger Report, August 2, 2007.
 * Howard Kurtz, "Editors Confirm Soldier's Claims," Washington Post, August 3, 2007.
 * Max Blumenthal, "The Weekly Standard's Strange Sources," The Notion/The Nation, August 3, 2007.
 * Hart Williams, "Torquemada Goldfarb and the Fatwa Against Beauchamp," The Democratic Daily Blog, August 3, 2007.
 * Hart Williams, "Scandal! Pentagon or Blogosmear or Both?" The Democratic Daily Blog, August 4, 2007.
 * Hart Williams, "Commander-In-Chief Slaps Combat Soldier?" The Democratic Daily Blog, August 5, 2007.
 * "Scott Thomas = Pvt Beauchamp = Liar?" D-Ring Blog, August 6, 2007.
 * Michael Goldfarb, "Beauchamp Recants Update," The Weekly Standard, August 7, 2007.
 * Mike Carney, "Military: Soldier-essayist's allegations of misconduct in Iraq 'are false'," On Deadline Blog/USA TODAY, August 7, 2007.
 * Jonathan Braden, "Army disputes MU alum’s war claims," Columbia Tribune, August 7, 2007.
 * John, "He Said, She Said," Op-For.com, August 7, 2007.
 * McQ (Bruce McQuain), "TNR: 'Our anonymous sources are better than your anonymous sources' (Update)," qando.net, August 7, 2007.
 * "Let Beauchamp Get Back To The War," BlackFive Blog, August 7, 2007. Contains numerous links.
 * Blake Wilson, "Baghdad Fabulist?" Slate, August 7, 2007.
 * Hart Williams, "Beauchamp - The Plot Thickens," The Democratic Daily Blog, August 7, 2007.
 * Patricia Cohen, "Army Says Soldier’s Articles for Magazine Were False," New York Times, August 8, 2007.
 * Howard Kurtz, "Army Concludes Baghdad Diarist Accounts Untrue," Washington Post, August 8, 2007.
 * Hart Williams, "The Media Drinks Koolaid (Again)," The Democratic Daily Blog, August 8, 2007.
 * John Milburn and Ellen Simon, "Army denounces 3 articles written by GI," Associated Press (USA TODAY), August 9, 2007.
 * Tom Blumer, Michael Goldfarb. 'Please Don't Read This' Headline Leads Incomplete AP Beauchamp Story," NewsBusters, August 9, 2007.
 * Charles Krauthammer, "The Baghdad Fabulist," Washington Post, August 10, 2007.
 * Jeff Emanuel, "Embedded Hostility. A case of 'Beauchamping'," National Review Online, August 10, 2007.
 * Paul McLeary, "Krauthammer, Goldfarb, and Emanuel. Getting the TNR mess wrong on purpose," Columbia Journalism Review, August 10, 2007.
 * Hart Williams, "Sadists On Parade" and "The Smoking Pun," The Democratic Daily Blog, August 10, 2007.
 * Bill Roggio, "The Army Responds," The Weekly Standard, August 11, 2007.
 * Hart Williams, "Declaring Victory and Covering Their Tracks," The Democratic Daily Blog, August 12, 2007.
 * Michael Calderone, "The Battle Hymn of The New Republic," New York Observer, August 13, 2007.
 * Hart Williams, "The Carolina Fabulist," The Democratic Daily Blog, August 14, 2007.
 * Hart Williams, "Smearing Private Beauchamp," The Daily Kos, August 14, 2007.
 * Christopher Griffin, "Picking Up the Pieces, Blogs of War," Armed Forces Journal (American Enterprise Institute), September 1, 2007.
 * Bob Owens, Army Checkmates the New Republic, Pajamas Media, September 10, 2007.
 * Hart Williams, "Everybody Needs A Hobby," The Democratic Daily Blog, October 8, 2007.
 * Michael Goldfarb, "That Took Foerever: Beauchamp Story Collapses," The Weekly Standard, October 24, 2007.
 * Allahpundit, "Drudge: Leaked documents prove TNR’s Beauchamp story has collapsed? Update: Drudge pulls documents? Update: TNR preparing to torpedo Drudge? Update: TNR editor doesn’t dispute accuracy of docs," Hot Air Blog, October 24, 2007. Includes partial transcripts of documents posted by Drudge.
 * Kevin Drum, "More Beauchamp," ''The Washington Monthly, October 24, 2007.
 * Michael Weiss, "Drudge vs. TNR," Slate, October 24, 2007. TNR Documents: one; two; and three.
 * Howard Kurtz, "Baghdad Diarist Was On Guard When Questioned by Editors," Washington Post, October 25, 2007.
 * B Merryfield, "The Beauchamp controversy is Kristol clear now," The Daily Kos, October 28, 2007.

External resources

 * Scott Thomas Beauchamp controversy in the Wikipedia.