Scott Thomas Beauchamp controversy

[1][2] In 2007, using the pen name "Scott Thomas", Beauchamp filed three entries in The New Republic (TNR) about serving at forward operating base Falcon, Baghdad.

Every single major American news organization made a huge deal about possible embellishments in his description of plausible incidents-and ignored the actual war crimes committed in his unit.”[3] Beauchamp went on to serve a second Infantry tour in Iraq, and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army in 2010.

"[4] After the publication of "Shock Troops", neocon outlets ranging from The Weekly Standard to National Review questioned the veracity of Beauchamp's statements.

[5] For example, The Weekly Standard reported that one of the anonymous military experts consulted by TNR refuted Beauchamp's allegations regarding Bradley Fighting Vehicles.

In a follow-up posting on The New Republic, Beauchamp objected to charges of falsification: "It's been maddening...to see the plausibility of events that I witnessed questioned by people who have never served in Iraq.

"[8] The New Republic's Jason Zengerle was told by the Army there was no evidence of a horribly burned woman at a Kuwait base camp after the magazine published its Editor's Note on the matter.

[13] In a "Memorandum of Concern" issued September 1, 2007, the commanding officer of Beauchamp's battalion, Lieutenant Colonel George A. Glaze, wrote in part:The New Republic published an article, authored by you, under your pen name, Scott Thomas.

[14][15] On August 7, The New Republic reported: We've talked to military personnel directly involved in the events that Scott Thomas Beauchamp described, and they corroborated his account as detailed in our statement.

When we called Army spokesman Major Steven F. Lamb and asked about an anonymously sourced allegation that Beauchamp had recanted his articles in a sworn statement, he told us, 'I have no knowledge of that.'

[16] On October 24, 2007, the Drudge Report website published the transcript of a phone call that occurred on September 7, 2007 between Beauchamp and senior TNR staff, including Franklin Foer.

[17] Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review Online's editor also questioned the accuracy of Drudge's characterization of The New Republic interview as a recantation.

"[21] A December 2007 article by Franklin Foer lengthily addresses the issues of the controversy, concluding: In retrospect, we never should have put Beauchamp in this situation.