TNR Denies Beauchamp Recanted, Cites Source Who Calls Him a Liar

My head, it hurts. I just was sent this link to TNR:

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." He added, "If someone is speaking anonymously [to The Weekly Standard], they are on their own." When we pressed Lamb for details on the Army investigation, he told us, "We don't go into the details of how we conduct our investigations."

The only problem with this is that even if Beauchamp didn't sign a recantment, Major Steven F. Lamb, who TNR uses as a source to deny the retraction story, said on a seperate occasion that:

An investigation has been completed and the allegations made by PVT Beauchamp were found to be false.

So, well, there you go. TNR' cites anonymous corroboration as evidence that Beauchamp is not lying, and then they cite a guy, as even more evidence, that is on the record as saying that Beauchamp is a liar?

They even go out of their way to mention that The Weekly Standard's source is anonymous--which seems to be an important point to them--but then fail to mention that the people who allegedly corroborated Beauchamp's story also are anonymous. And the corroboration is singular: one guy says Beauchamp stories are true.

That's either odd logic or TNR is just in such a state of denial that they completely miss it.

And, as Allah notes:

Lamb isn’t denying it [that Beauchamp has recanted], just saying that if it’s true, no one’s told him yet.

Anyway, I've never felt like this was such a large infraction that Beauchamp should be given harsh punishment for. I'm not sure the "attrocities" that are referred to in this Fox News report that AllahP has up. At most, Beauchamp is guilty of being a first class asshole and trying to make other troops look like first class assholes. So, I'm glad to hear that he'll only get 'administrative punishment", which I hear is a lot less severe than in Starship Troopers.

The worst punishment given to this guy will be from the men and women who have to put up with his presence. UPDATE: Via Michelle Malkin who has a great roundup, Blackfive agrees about the punishment.

Another update: AllahP responds with an interesting question: Has TNR mentioned yet in any of its reporting the results of the Army’s investigation?.

As my Lefty friends are wont to say: interesting question.....

Update again: Ace sums up my thoughts better than I can:

Scott Beauchamp's strongest character witness at this point is the guy who's calling him a God-damnable liar.

UDATE: Jeff G also has an interesting question:

One wonders if the DoD would have concluded its investigation without bringing charges against Beauchamp had he not, in fact, recanted

UPDATE: The Franklin Foer dead pool begins. There's no way this lead's to Foer resigning. Hell will freeze over first.

Posted by: Rusty at 02:22 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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