The Drudge Report yesterday briefly posted a transcript of a conversation between fabulist Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp and editors at The New Republic [Transcript: Pt. 1, Pt. 2 -- PDF format] along with documents from the Army's official investigation. [PDF format]

Drudge ended up pulling it down, but not before the information was out, and TNR's "investigation" into the allegations that Beauchamp made up stories out of whole cloth was revealed to be a cover-up.

For those who haven't followed all the story's twists and turns, Howard Kurtz over at The Washington Post has an excellent summary in today's paper.

A transcript of the conversation was obtained by Internet columnist Matt Drudge, who yesterday also posted the internal Army report on the case. The report concludes that Beauchamp "is not a credible source," adding: "Private Beauchamp desired to use his experiences to enhance his writing and provide legitimacy to his work possibly becoming the next Hemingway." The investigating officer recommended that Beauchamp be given a "mental health consultation."

Among the other interesting and damning facts from the transcript and Editor Franklin Foer's responses to Kurtz's questions are these:

• Foer claims that Beauchamp refused to stand behind his stories in the interview that was leaked because "his commanding officer [was] in the room with him." Beauchamp's squad leader, a staff sergeant, was in the room, not his commanding officer. How ignorant of military structure do you have to not know the difference?
• Foer reveals that in a subsequent, private conversation with Beauchamp, Beauchamp defended his stories. For months, publicly, Foer has been claiming that the Army has been muzzling Beauchamp and that they haven't been able to contact him. It turns out that Foer has had at least two conversations with Beauchamp, but refused to reveal them to the public.

We're at the point where TNR has less credibility than the late, great Weekly World News. After all, the Weekly World News didn't pretend to be something it wasn't.

I encourage you to read Bob Owens' piece over at Pajamas Media and Michael Yon's piece on second chances. Milblogger Blackfive also has a good piece on the subject.