Yesterday, in a column on Beauchamp, Michael Yon wrote of the fanatic truth detectors chasing after Beauchamp:
In any case, he was up in that tree, surrounded by hounds who’d done this plenty of times, yet always found this part exciting. The hunters would have written the last sentence if the choice was up to them.
Some wanted Beauchamp to go to prison; some were baying for blood.
Yon stated why he was leaving Beauchamp alone:
But to his credit, the young soldier decided to stay, and he is serving tonight in a dangerous part of Baghdad. He might well be seriously injured or killed here, and he knows it. He could have quit, but he did not. He faced his peers. I can only imagine the cold shoulders, and worse, he must have gotten. He could have left the unit, but LTC Glaze told me that Beauchamp wanted to stay and make it right. Whatever price he has to pay, he is paying it.
The commander said I was welcome to talk with Beauchamp, but clearly he did not want anyone else coming at his soldier. LTC Glaze told me that at least one blog had even called for Beauchamp to be killed, which seems rather extreme even on a very bad day. LTC Glaze wants to keep Beauchamp, and hopes folks will let it rest. I’m with LTC Glaze on this: it’s time to let Beauchamp get back to the war. The young soldier learned his lessons. He paid enough to earn his second chance that he must know he will never get a third.
But what about the coon hounds? Will they listen? After months of trembling at the thrill of the hunt, snarling, drooling, barking up a tree, pissing on themselves in excitement? Can their bloodlust be sated?
It appears that the hounds can be controlled, if you have the right dog whistle. Red State’s Jeff Emanuel:
Beauchamp, though, as a young man who is, by all accounts, honorably and capably serving his country even now, should see his public demonization end, and should be allowed to get back to his own life.
Are we as a public not lucky to have such magnanimous loudmouths controlling our discourse? After months of slobbering at the smell, feigning outrage, penning column (here citing folks calling Beauchamp a slimeball) after self-promoting column baying at the indecency of it all, our wise and noble Emanuel (himself a young man) has decided to let it all go.
Beauchamp, it seems, has paid his debt to Emanuel. I am sure the Baghdad diarist will be thrilled to learn this.
What of the others? Despite his inflated ego and his self-promoting offers to “help” TNR, Emanuel was a bit player in all of this. What about Uncle Dimbo at Black Five, who started off the Beauchamp nonsense with calls for violence? Remember this:
You were already fronted out and I would assume it was some members of your unit that “politely” invited you to name yourself. You are a disgrace Beauchamp, a wannabe intellectual lacking the brainpower to do much more than embarrass yourself in public. Well Bravo, you have shown yourself to be a back-stabbing petty BS artist. Congratulations on that. Now you need to get busy watching your back, ‘cuz if you think you were disliked and unloved before……Heh.
Month after month of fatheaded bloviating came from Dimbo, with each successive post about Beauchamp more full-throated, MORE INDIGNANT, MORE OUTRAGED! Surely our BlackFive correspondent will not be so eager to let things go, will he?
We don’t know, yet. But his other chest-thumping buddies at BlackFive are ready to let bygones be bygones:
As for me, I believe in second chances, and in earned redemption. I hope and even pray that such things are possible. While I have not written about it, I know that Scott Beauchamp has been offered such, and that he has done a good bit within certain constraints to make things right with his unit.
How sweet. And on and on it goes, as we are told it is time to leave Beauchamp alone. Nothing, of course, has really changed. Beauchamp has not publicly recanted or apologized, and he isn’t all of a sudden in a new and dangerous job in Iraq- he is doing the same dangerous work he was doing over the past few months while the hissyfitsphere was calling for his head. The young American soldier is JUST as likely to be harmed today as he was every other day over the past few months, while our brave and noble bloggers were calling for him to be court-martialed, jailed, beaten, and spit upon.
Again, so we are clear, every day over the past few months, while our keyboard commandos (and no cat-calls at Emanuel or the Blackfive folks- they have served, and one must assume, served admirably) were navigating the headlines defending God-general Petraeus, advocating the surge, it was evil villain Scott Thomas Beauchamp who was actually out there on the frront lines, strapping on his boots, doing everything he could to avoid the IEDs, the snipers, and the insurgents to make the surge work. So nothing has really changed, except, perhaps, that there really are no other aspects of this young man’s life to pry into. To keep with our metaphor, I guess the thrill of the hunt just ain’t so thrilling anymore, so it is now time to let this soldier be.
I think I speak for everyone when I note how lucky we all are to live in America, where even the coon hounds believe in redemption.
*** Update ***
This Tom Tomorrow cartoon really says it all.
*** Update #2 ***
TNR’s editors go on the record:
The answer is simple: Since this controversy began, The New Republic’s sole objective has been to uncover the truth. As Scoblic said during the September 6 conversation: “[A]ll we want out of this, and the only way that it is going to end, is if we have the truth. And if it’s—if it’s certain parts of the story are bullshit, then we’ll end that way. If it’s proven to be true, it will end that way. But it’s only going to end with the truth.” The September 6 exchange was extremely frustrating; however, it was frustrating precisely because it did not add any new information to our investigation. Beauchamp’s refusal to defend himself certainly raised serious doubts. That said, Beauchamp’s words were being monitored: His squad leader was in the room as he spoke to us, as was a public affairs specialist, and it is now clear that the Army was recording the conversation for its files.
The next day, via his wife, we learned that Beauchamp did want to stand by his stories and wanted to communicate with us again. Two-and-a-half weeks later, Beauchamp telephoned Foer at home and, in an unmonitored conversation, told him that he continued to stand by every aspect of his story, except for the one inaccuracy he had previously admitted. He also told Foer that in the September 6 call he had spoken under duress, with the implicit threat that he would lose all the freedoms and privileges that his commanding officer had recently restored if he discussed the story with us.
Gee. Where have you heard all that before?
The complete and total douchebaggery of the truth detectors on the right is going to be a spectacle to document when this is all over.
*** Update #3 ***
Mark Noonan, at Blogs for Bush:
But what of Beauchamp? Well, some were calling for him to be severely punished – and they had a strong case: what Beauchamp wrote was grist for the enemy propaganda mill and by encouraging the enemy to fight, it is almost certain that some people will die in part because of what Beauchamp wrote. But to err is all too human, to forgive is divine – especially when one is forgiving someone who is making amends, as Michael Yon points out…
Yes! The enemy was fueling their jihad with the tales of perfidy as outlined in the 65,000 subscriber New Republic.
It is unfair to actual idiots to call these people idiots.
Zifnab
With the Beauchamp insurgency defeated, can we bring the troops home now?
gypsy howell
Yeah, maybe they think Beauchamp’s suffered enough. Or, maybe, and more probably, they just got the memo that they’ve unwittingly unleashed another tiny little shitstorm now that we find out that the Army leaked supposedly classifed info to Drudge to try to further discredit Beauchamp and TNR, and now that’s being ‘investigated.’*
Errrrrrrkkkk! Stop! Back to the kennels!!! Quick – round up the hounds and load them back into the truck!!! Errrrkkk!!
* (OK, sure. We all know the investigation isn’t going anywhere anyway.)
Pb
Uh-oh, Beauchamp fatigue is setting in. Stay vigilant, citizen-journalists! I’m sure Stalkin’ Malkin will stick to her guns, after all, she just called Beauchamp a crapweasel the other day. But really, we’re just in the last throes of this non-story–fear not, fellow patriots, pretty soon they’ll discover that footage of an adorable puppy urinating on a newspaper photo of General Petraeus!
capelza
gypsy howell said before I did.
Drudge pulled it and that jerked the choke chain.
kerryinalaska
I gotta tell you that the rabid spit-flecked writings of the gross right against this person is indicative of their own mental illness. Somewhere in each of their pasts rests some imagined hurt which cost each of them their humanity. One wonders why they choose to use the forums instead of signing up to fight. It would appear that the lose of humanity leads to a fair amount of cowardice. Maybe it’s that they are afraid to die and fear facing their black deeds and this moves them to yell at those really on the edge, albeit from a safe basement room in mom’s house. This artificially pumps up their stature and they can thump their chests and spout of their great courage.
Human garbage. Probably recyclable, but why bother.
John Cole
Kerry,
That made little sense, and what sense it did make reeked of the chickenhawk meme, which I reject.
Pb
I see what kerryinalaska is saying; the question there is, how did they get like this? There was this study, for example:
28 Percent
It is good that Beauchamp has learned his lessen and is truly penitent because that is the way to Jesus. I am happy that this has come to pass but not surprised that TNR refuses to report now that Beauchamp has been saved. It is unfortunate that he compromised his mission by telling stories that made it so difficult for his LTC to keep him but now he has a much better story to tell about turning his life around and finding redemption truly an inspiration to us all.
Bibblesnæð
Hey, how about calling them “neo-coonhounds”? (True, “coon” is a slur but in this case it should be plain that we’re not talking about the same people “coon” is normally thrown at.)
Wilfred
When did Yon become the final authority, blessing, absolving or damning like some kind of wingnut Pope? Beauchamp should never have been hassled to begin with.
Tsulagi
You mean we’re not going to learn what countertops Beauchamp’s wife has? With photos? I feel so wanting.
But as Tom Tomorrow illustrates, it’s a certainty there will soon be new citizen journo exploits to fill the void. A new outrage of the day/month. T.T. is funny, and virtually always dead on. Unlike some others.
Getting really sick of this citizen truther squad shit. Really, really sick of it when I saw on one retarded blog one extreme asshole ran the names of the 10 captains who penned a WaPo op-ed through AKO. Shared it with the class. Coming to brilliant conclusions from the results.
Of course these loons who see themselves as Jack Bauer think they’ll be admired as action heroes for their efforts. All it makes me want to do is drive a stake through their hearts.
grandpa john
well yes, I am sure that beauchamp has learned his lesson,however I also strongly suspect that the lesson learned is NOT the one the Yon , in his cluelessness , thinks is being taught.
Thomas
TNR posted a pretty damning response to all of the wingnut hype.
I’m guessing the reason they are now ‘giving’ Beauchamp a second chance is due to the reluctance of the Army to release any details of the supposed bang-up job it did in refuting Beauchamp. Somebody has probably slipped these assholes the fact that it’s not going to come out looking good in the end for the Beauchamp-must-pay side, making the leak a misinterpreted ‘victory’ to point to for morale and in order to slam the MSM for anything that doesn’t immediately support wingnut agitprop.
Xanthippas
I think they realized that no, the story isn’t going to get any juicier for them and that they’ve reached the extent to which they can ring feigned outrage out of the story. So, time to let it go and go on to sliming more children and their families.
Seriously, what a bunch of assholes. We want their feigned magnanimity about as much as we want their feigned outrage, and they can shove it up their collective right-wing asses.
jcricket
Yes, the lesson is never deviate from the Republican party script or risk being cast out, discarded, smeared and otherwise attacked by people who claim to “support you”.
babyinthecorner
Remember Matt Sanchez, the $250 an hour prostitute who did gay porn under the name Rod Majors? He was one of Beauchamp’s chief attackers. Even tried to take credit for breaking the story. Anyway, I did a little digging to see if he had anything to say about these new developments and found this…
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=25d_1193165970
It’s basically a snuff film set to Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust.” The smartass caption at the beginning of the video says, “WARNING: Lot’s of Iraqi’s were harmed during the making of this video.”
This from a guy who pretended to be outraged by the Scott Thomas stories.
Tsulagi
So they print that private call. Good to see TNR has Beauchamp’s back.
capelza
Noonanb is a jackass…that the very minor things Beauchamp wrote about wouldbe the tipping point for the “enemy propaganda mill” is so beyond idiotic.
“Hey look Hussien! We’ve ignored the torture, Balckwater blasting civilians, the occupation and all that other stuff..but this Beauchamp said someone ran over a dog! Now THAT tears it!….”
Hahahahaaa…on Matt Snachez. I need to go over to Wikipedia..he must be camped there again. Bob Owens…you better investigate Sanchez…
capelza
Man, that vid is disgusting. More than anything Beauchamp wrote about.
I’m sure that iraqis will really appreciate seeing burned bodies and heads blown apart…and it reflects so well on our soldiers.
I am serious, Bob Owens..have you seen this? Does this reflect well on American soldiers? Where is the condmenation for Matt Sanchez?
Thom
I said the same damn thing at Confederate Yankee ages ago, and even mentioned Yon. In July.
And the shit I took for that. Heh indeedy.
July.
Tim F.
Well if it wasn’t abu Ghraib or indiscriminate airstrikes or trigger-happy mercenaries or disbanding the Iraqi army or playing religious factions against one another then it had to be something.
Wilfred
Charming. I’ll put that link out on the Iraq blogs right away, with the proviso that the American right must approve since it showed no inclination to tree these particular coons the way it did Beauchamp.
babyinthecorner
I checked the edit history on the Beauchamp Wikipedia article. Sure enough Matt Sanchez (username Bluemarine) was making vanity edits last month, adding references to himself and his web site. The WP article has been hijacked by a bunch of wingnuts who want to see Beauchamp hang.
capelza
I went over..his article has one of the most entertaining discussion pages. I;ve never seen a page where the subject is so personally involved.
I do love that they have his “filmography” though…
babyinthecorner
This video reminded me of that controversy from a couple of years ago involving soldiers who were given free access to a porn site in exchange for photos of war dead.
ninerdave
It’s a pretty sad life these people lead, going through life seeing an enemy or traitor in every person they cross paths and don’t agree with.
Doesn’t it get tiring?
capelza
babyinthecorner..how dare you smear the troops like that?
Those were “phony soldiers”…or something. No soldier but Beauchamp has EVER done anything dishonourable. He alone has besmirched the troops and emboldened the enemy.
ninerdave
Oh and contrast the Tom cartoon with the Rall cartoon. On is amusing satire, the other reads like a lefty screed.
babyinthecorner
Everyone should read the Matt Sanchez talk page. You get a clear sense of what a wildly narcissistic, inconsistent, pathological nutjob he is. I like how he’s basically accused all the editors of Wikipedia of being “gay jihadists” who are out to get him. He even falsely accused more than one editor of making sexual advances.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Matt_Sanchez
This discredited nutcase is The Weakly Standard’s primary source for their attacks on Scott Beauchamp.
babyinthecorner
Oh right! Shame on me. Jesse MacBeth was the lone culprit in the war porn scandal. He, and he alone, was trading snuff pictures for upskirt videos.
Bubblegum Tate
Obviously, Mark Noonan is a HUGE fan of the “they hate us for our freedom” talking point. Like, it may as well be printed in the Bible as far as he’s concerned. When commentors point out that, actually, there’s much more complex stuff going on than a bunch of Muslims deciding, “You know what? America has freedom, and I hate that! Let’s attack!” he very haughtily replies, “They hate us for who we are, not what we do.”
He actually believe this. Wholeheartedly. And he considers himself fabulously well-informed. It’s funny, but increasingly, it’s just sad.
Hart Williams
Hey, don’t forget Butt Plug Bob over at Confederate Yankee (who still believes, evidently, that Google was behind the attempt to smear Christmas in 2005 with the aforementioned plastic device). Writing on Pajamas Media, he, too, becomes nauseatingly unctuous, “forgiving” Beauchamp for learning his lesson:
As Shaw said:
jcricket
You know the righties are just laying the ground for the eventual “we would have won if not for the pesky liberals/phony soldiers/weak-willed generals who made us get out right before the decisive battle”.
The people who said this is a 21st century Vietnam were so right on, it’s sad.
Kevin Hayden
At least with all the publicity it makes it harder for Beauchamp to get fragged (a misnomer, in this case, but you get the point).
The truth may out once he’s discharged. Based on all that’s visible so far, the odds are stacked against him being able to speak freely anytime sooner.
As for the sharks going crazy at a drop of blood, they display no respect for life at all. The worst part is I can’t tell if they’re being deliberately dishonest or whether there’s some weird disconnect going on. It’s Strangelovian, trying to maintain the myth that war – any war – is pure.
Cromagnon
Here’s a WP article abuot Beauchamps battalion and what they went through over the last 14 months
The Kenosha Kid
Anyone else find it funny that gay porn star turned Marine refrigerator repairman Matt Sanchez uses Queen as the soundtrack to his snuff video?
JWW
All you Finace jackass fools,
Beauchamp should have gotten a severe ass kicking by his peers. Then with enough said, things go back to normal. You wake up, complete the mission, and prepare for the next day. Let it rest, he is no different than many in the past. They dig in, drive on or fall by the wayside. But it happens that each day we expand technology, we transmit more information. Imagine for a moment if the sights and sounds of WWII could have been transmitted at current technology standards. Let it go!!!
babyinthecorner
It is funny. But not quite as funny as the obviously fake Chuck Palahniuk interview that he posted on his web site.
Listen to Matt Sanchez’s pretentious, nasal lisp and try not to laugh! This is a man who says he hates teh gay with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns, but he’s kneeling at the alter of an openly gay cult novelist.
The Weekly Standard’s primary source for their Scott Thomas attacks is a fabulist who posted a fake interview on his cheesy web site.