Shattered Glass Or Shattered Cover Up?

Will we ever learn the truth?


Yesterday, I noted the "reported confession" of The New Republic's "Baghdad Diarist," who admitted his blog posts were bogus. I also snarked about The Weekly Standard's bizarre outing of the soldier blogger.

Well...

Josh Marshall writes:

The Weekly Standard, which has been leading the charge against Beauchamp, says another unnamed military official told the magazine that not only had the Army found Beauchamp's written accounts to be false but that Beauchamp himself has now signed a recantation of all his claims. So case closed; he fessed up. Yet when TNR contacted the Army public affairs a Maj. Steve Lamb told them: "I have no knowledge of that."

So what's up here?

Beauchamp makes his charges. The US Army allegedly investigates and finds the highly embarrassing charges to be false. But no information will be released about which of his charges were false, how they were false or how they were determined to be false. (emphasis mine)

They then punish Beauchamp by preventing him from having any communication with the civilian world. And if that's not enough, an unnamed military source tells the Standard that Beauchamp has undergone a successful self-criticism session and has recanted everything. But an Army spokesman tells TNR that he's not aware of any confession or recantation.(emphasis mine)

Here's the deal: I want to believe that the Baghdad Diarist reported the truth; The New Republic has a reputation for fabulism; The Weekly Standard is hardly a reputable source; and the US Military has been caught lying about facts on the ground so many times it makes our heads spin like Linda Blair's.

Will we ever learn the truth?

Not if our only sources are The New Republic, The Weekly Standard, and the US Military.

Truly heavy sigh.


Best bar bet in the world: Delilah didn't do it.
Judges 16:19-- And she made him (Samson) sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head.