Barack Obama is not ready for primetime. Answering a question on how he would refocus U.S. troops out of Iraq to better fight terrorism, he said, "We've to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous […]
Bob Owens over at Confederate Yankee managed to track down one of the sources The New Republic used to "confirm" one of the facts in their since-discredited "Shock Troops" piece -- and it doesn't reflect well on that magazine's vaunted fact-checking. Specifically, Owens tracked down the spokesman for the manufacturerer of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle […]
It appears as though efforts by some in the military and media to turn a tragedy into a crime are going to fail. Yesterday, Lt. Gen. James Mattis decided not to court-martial Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt and Capt. Randy W. Stone. Sharratt was involved in a firefight with insurgents that tragically left some women […]
Several weeks ago, radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt interviewed the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus on the situation in that country and the "surge." Andrew Sullivan, who was once sane, decried that decision by the general. If I were eager to maintain a semblance of military independence from the agenda […]
It's all over except for the self-flagellation to come from The New Republic editor Franklin Foer. Over the past couple of days, Bob Owens has posted a couple (here and here) of e-mail exchanges that would appear to cast doubt not only on Scott Thomas Beauchamp's truthtelling ability, but that of Foer himself. Maj. Renee […]
Just a couple days after The New Republic editor Franklin Foer proclaimed that Scott Thomas Beauchamp's "reporting" had been verified (except for the fact that he was a little jerk before he got to Iraq -- not that the war made him one), we have additional confirmation that Foer is wrong and Beauchamp is a […]
...when they're silent. As the Military and Progressives panel came to an end, a young man in uniform stood up to argue that the surge was working, and cutting down on Iraqi casualties. The moderator largely freaked out. When other members of the panel tried to answer his question, he demanded they "stand down." He […]
The New Republic has another fabulist on its hands. After a thorough investigation that lasted nearly a week the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division has concluded that the allegations made by Private Thomas Scott Beauchamp, the "Baghdad Diarist", have been "refuted by members of his platoon and proven to be false" [emphasis […]
UPDATED WITH LINKS The New Republic has re-fact-checked it's previously fact-checked reports and come to the conclusion that they were mostly right. Beauchamp's essay consisted of three discrete anecdotes. In the first, Beauchamp recounted how he and a fellow soldier mocked a disfigured woman seated near them in a dining hall. Three soldiers with whom […]
This post has been updated There's been a lot of competition, but this week's winner is Columbia Journalism Review's Paul McLeary who came up with this thoughtful, incisive bit of analysis on the dustup over The New Republic's "Baghdad Diarist." How dare a college grad and engaged citizen volunteer to join the Army to fight […]