Thanks to Weekly Standard and milibloggers and bloggers everywhere, they could not continue to sweep this under the rug.
Scott Thomas Beauchamp created stories about atrocities in Iraq that never happened, many people spent countless hours debunking those claims while TNR refused to admit they had not done their due diligence in fact checking and verifying those diarists stories.
Four-in-a-half months later, in a rambling piece full of excuses and phony justifications, blaming everybody but himself for not doing his job, Franklin Foer finally gets around to admitting that he "cannot be confident that the events in his pieces occurred in exactly the manner that he described them."
The new Republic's credibility= RIP
In retrospect, we never should have put Beauchamp in this situation. He was a young soldier in a war zone, an untried writer without journalistic training. We published his accounts of sensitive events while granting him the shield of anonymity--which, in the wrong hands, can become license to exaggerate, if not fabricate.
When I last spoke with Beauchamp in early November, he continued to stand by his stories. Unfortunately, the standards of this magazine require more than that. And, in light of the evidence available to us, after months of intensive re-reporting, we cannot be confident that the events in his pieces occurred in exactly the manner that he described them. Without that essential confidence, we cannot stand by these stories.
The transcripts of a conversation in September, have been published online and Beaucamp did not stand by his story, he simply refused to speak of it at all. (Correction made)
Transcript one
Private Beauchamp. During the call, Beauchamp declines to stand by his stories, telling his editors that "I just want it to end. I'm not going to talk to anyone about anything really." The editors respond that "we just can't, in good conscience, continue to defend the piece" without an explanation, but Beauchamp responds only that he "doesn't care what the public thinks." The editors then ask Beauchamp to cancel scheduled interviews with the WASHINGTON POST and NEWSWEEK.
Transcript two
"Memorandum for Record" in which Beauchamp recants his stories and concedes the facts of the Army's investigation -- that his stories contained "gross exaggerations and inaccurate allegations of misconduct" by his fellow soldiers.
Army Investigation
The Army concluded that Beauchamp had "completely fabricated" the story of mocking a disfigured woman, that his description of a "Saddam-era dumping ground" was false, and that claims that he and his men had deliberately targeted dogs with their armored vehicles was "completely unfounded." Further the report stated "that Private Beauchamp desired to use his experiences to enhance his writing and provide legitimacy to his work possibly becoming the next Hemingway."More from the American Pundit and, Hot Air goes through some of the most interesting quotes from the 14 pages of drivel.
The report concludes that "Private Beauchamp takes small bits of truth and twists and exaggerates them into fictional accounts that he puts forth as the whole truth for public consumption."
Previously from the beginning of this saga to the end:
Serious Questions Deserve Serious Answers: Scott Thomas and TNR
Scott Thomas, John Kerry and the lies people tell
Scott Thomas and TNR Update
Followup on Scott Thomas and TNR: Story false
Hopefully the End to the TNR and Scott Thomas Saga: UPDATED & Bumped
So, I guess TNR and Scott Thomas AREN'T going to go away
TNR, Scott Thomas and Slate:Update CY debunks ANOTHER TNR claim
Quick TNR/Scott Thomas Update
I Don't Think TNR Got "Suckered", I Think They Just Suck
Final Chapter of Scott Thomas Beauchamp and TNR lies
This should end the fairy tale......then again, you never know.
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