When the mainstream press first picked up the story of “Scott Thomas”, aka Pvt Scotty Beauchamp, New Republic editor Frank Foer told the Washington Post‘s Howard Kurtz that
‘Who is “Scott Thomas”?’ was not one of those questions we asked 10 days ago. Instead, they were as follows:
Those questions remain unanswered by either the New Republic or the now revealed author of the Baghdad Diarist, Beauchamp. Still, Foer tells Kurtz in today’s Washington Post that
The only agenda we have as regards Beauchamp is the truth of his allegations. Foer stated a week ago that his magazine had launched an investigation and already had “nothing to undermine–and much to corroborate–the author’s descriptions.” But the magazine has yet to produce anything to corroborate Beauchamp’s descriptions. Meanwhile, bloggers and readers have cast further doubt on every element of Beauchamp’s narrative, and the military has launched its own investigation. The only question left to be answered is whose rigorous fact-checking will get to the bottom of the story first, the New Republic‘s or the U.S. Army’s? Recommended reading on Scotty Beauchamp: Dean Barnett John Podhoretz Outside the Wire Ace of Spades Hot Air Little Green Footballs
