Final chapter of the Scott Thomas Beauchamp saga

Franklin Foer has written the final chapter of the “Shock Troops” saga. Bob Owens of Confederate Yankee fame writes at Pajamas Media;

It takes him fourteen pages, but Franklin Foer finally makes an admission regarding Scott Thomas Beauchamp’s posts in The New Republic.

…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.

Foer’s opus begins 13 pages earlier and attempts the impossible feat of justifying his editorial leadership at The New Republic from the time period leading up to the publication of Beauchamp’s work to the fourteen-page long screed that culminated in the pained retraction above.

It’s beyond me why it has taken this long – except that I know the Left has taken a page from the Clinton book. They wait a sufficiently long time hoping no one is paying attention, or sick and tired the whole thing, when they finally admit they were wr…uh…wr…uh…wr…uh…wrong.

Spree at Wake Up America has the transcripts and background leading up to this point. Bloggers are declaring victory, once again. Of course, this blogger said it was BS back when it began – I took a personal interest when I found out it was my last company, A 1/18th Infantry, and wrote a piece that is still one of the highest traffic posts on this blog though it was written back in July. In August, Beuchamp recanted, but we already knew it was a fantasy because GI Jane posted an email she’d gotten from Beauchamp’s First Sergeant.

Michele Malkin says “Buh-bye, Franklin Foer“. Jimbo at Black Five says “Please fire Foer“. DrewM at Ace of Spades says;

I’ve read it all now and it’s a sad story about people who should have known better but were blinded by their faith in The Narrative. TNR was like Fox Mulder, they wanted to believe.

Actually, it’s more than that. Everyone who had spent more than a day in the infantry was telling these guys they were wrong, but they’re so steeped in their elitist bullshit culture that tells them everything they need to know is in books, they disregarded people with actual experiences similar to Beauchamp’s fantasies.

If they’d stopped and swallowed their pride for a moment and asked actual authorities, instead of the gumballs that tell them what they want to hear, they could have avoided this whole mess from the start. And apparently, according to Michele Malkin’s transcripts, Foer knew Beuachamp was lying back in August. By not apologizing back then, he needs to lose his job.

Now Foer calls it “The Fog of War“, invoking Tzun Tzu as an excuse for his own journalistic failures. The last four months have had nothing to do with war, Franklin. You should have called the “Fog of Leftist Manipulation”.

Patterico quotes Foer;

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.

Horseshit. Your magazine has no standards – especially if you’re blaming your writers for your own shortcomings. Beauchamp gave you exactly the stories you were looking for – you used him just like you used the entire military for sensationalist journalism. Maybe Mad or Cracked can use your brand of journalism.

See Blue Crab Boulevard‘s “Fouteen Pages and Run For Cover” for more links and a perfect cartoon. Allahpundit writes;

On the very first page, Foer introduces Beauchamp’s pieces as exercises in “how war distorts moral judgments.” That’s what they wanted to hear, that’s what they got. Their explanation for why they have to cut Beauchamp loose now: War distorts mental judgments, too. Perfect.

Category: Antiwar crowd, Media, Politics, Support the troops