Scott Thomas Beauchamp's "Shock Troops" Statements
After the article "Shock Troops" in The New Republic had been challenged by critics , a documentary filmmaker/blogger by the name of JD Johannes narrowed down the search of the author to Alpha Company, 1-18 Infantry, Second Brigade Combat Team, First Infantry Division on July21.
Three days after that on July 24, the military began a formal investigation, which included taking statements from soldiers in Alpha/1-18IN. Scott Beauchamp gave his initial statement on July 26, published here for the first time.
At no point during these two statements does Beauchamp directly recant.
He does not provide any support to the claims made in his article, "Shock Troops." There does not appear to ever have been any documentary evidence to support this story, nor the author's two previous stories.
Franklin Foer, editor of The New Republic, penned a retraction of these stories five months later. Foer has yet to issue an apology to his critics or the military he maligned during the course of this story.
Update: Thanks to Jon Ham at The John Locke Foundation for enhancing the contrast of these images.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 07:00 AM
Comments
Posted by: Rich at January 22, 2008 08:10 AM (siQqy)
1. He says he hasn't seen anyone hit a dog with a Brad "since I have been driving in the past two months" (statement 2) and, in an interesting parallel, " have not seen a dog hit in that time" (statement 1).
This seems designed to open up the possibility for later testimony that he saw dogs deliberately hit by Bradley drivers before the time that he started driving.
2. "Also, there was no "mass grave", a term I never used, found...." This seems consistent with a later (post-discharge) statement that human bones were found, only not in a mass grave. Which is consistent with his story about the human skull cap thing.
Don't get me wrong: I think this guy is a lying sack of canine feces. I'm just saying, a lot of us have been anticipating a post-discharge "revelation" from STB that claims:
My stories were materially true even if some details, especially wording given by others ("mass grave") and of course the one little "mistake" I've already admitted, were misremembered. AND nothing in my sworn statements to the Army actually contradicted my TNR stories, right-wing bloggers notwithstanding.
I see room being deliberately cleared in these statements for this kind of semi-non-retraction. Not of course that there's any actual evidence for its truth. I just wish the Army had pushed a bit harder for direct repudiation of the stories, on the record.
Posted by: DJ at January 22, 2008 08:44 AM (K8KnJ)
Now that these statements are a matter of public record, you can begin to understand why the Army acted the way it did. STB refused to cooperate any further than he did by providing his own statements. There wasn't much else to be done at that point.
Posted by: Major L at January 22, 2008 08:52 AM (Jfe06)
Though hardly his intent, he did far more damage to the anti-Army side than he did to the soldiers serving honorably in Iraq.
Posted by: Diggs at January 22, 2008 09:15 AM (6T736)
Posted by: sfcmac at January 22, 2008 09:23 AM (k6M4A)
Posted by: C-C-G at January 22, 2008 09:38 AM (F+vKR)
Posted by: wandering at January 22, 2008 10:12 AM (WoLky)
However, Mr. Beauchamp's statements are carefully worded so that he leaves room for a post military discharge statement to the effect that statements he made in Iraq were made under duress.
Mr. Beauchamp's AWOL and his fabricated stories paint an unflattering picture of a confused kid who thinks he is smarter than the world.
This kid strikes me as the next John Kerry.
Doug Santo
Pasadena, CA
Posted by: Doug Santo at January 22, 2008 10:35 AM (UJ+v4)
Posted by: Gringo at January 22, 2008 10:40 AM (uBn2M)
If you don't believe me, just compare to Beauchamp's real '8', written a couple of lines down on the same statement. When Beauchamp wants to write an '8', he moves the pen differently.
And yes, the guy is a crapweasel. Clearly, if you match his sworn statements to his articles in some Clinton-esque fashion, he did leave himself several "outs" - while providing (and having) no evidence for the truth of his articles.
Posted by: tjmmz9843 at January 22, 2008 10:53 AM (QxD/9)
We all know that Beauchamp left himself some wriggle room so he can later on claim he was right.
Posted by: memomachine at January 22, 2008 10:56 AM (3pvQO)
Posted by: submandave at January 22, 2008 11:46 AM (ljAGw)
I believe, based on these statements, that the investigators were focusing on Beauchamp's own driving habits, and the possible desecration of graves. Why the investigators were focusing on those two issues is open to speculation. Beauchamp's fairy tales mostly detailed behavior which was deplorable and sickening, but not actionable by military justice, nor involving conduct which placed other soldiers or military assets at risk. My reading is that the investigators were focusing on behavior which was actionable from a military justice standpoint or putting persons or equipment at risk.
I suspect Beauchamp was taking so much heat that his only concern at the time was avoiding discipline or court martial. Any wiggle room he preserved for himself to use later was unintentional. If he had the imagination to look that far ahead, he wouldn't have penned that pack of lies in the first place.
On the other hand, I suspect he already fears a future filled with any number of folks willing to spit in his face (or kick his ass). I wonder if he really wants to risk the consequences of claiming his fantasies were true once he returns to civilian life.
Posted by: novaculus at January 22, 2008 12:28 PM (jL6zR)
I'll bet he's already planning his book tour.
Posted by: Mike G in Corvallis at January 22, 2008 12:36 PM (qmdN5)
"...but not actionable by military justice..."
I beg to differ. The UCMJ covers his conduct (misbehavior) with the following:
Article 15: Nonjudicial punishment (NJP) refers to certain limited punishments which can be awarded for minor disciplinary offenses by a commanding officer or officer in charge to members of his/her command.
The Manual for Courts-Martial, 1998 edition, also indicates in Part V, para. 1e, that, in determining whether an offense is minor, the "nature of the offense" should be considered. This is a significant statement and often is misunderstood as referring to the seriousness or gravity of the offense. Gravity refers to the maximum possible punishment, however, and is the subject of separate discussion in that paragraph. In context, nature of the offense refers to its character, not its gravity. In military criminal law, there are two basic types of misconduct-disciplinary infractions and crimes. Disciplinary infractions are breaches of standards governing the routine functioning of society. Thus, traffic laws, license requirements, disobedience of military orders, disrespect to military superiors, etc., are disciplinary infractions.
And this one, the "Catch 22":
Article 134:
Though not specifically mentioned in this chapter, all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, ALL CONDUCT OF A NATURE TO BRING DISCREDIT UPON THE ARMED FORCES,and crimes and offenses not capital, of which persons subject to this chapter may be guilty, shall be taken cognizance of by a general, special or summary court-martial, according to the nature and degree of the offense, and shall be punished at the discretion of that court.
At the very least, he qualifies for an Article 15, but if they wanted to really fry his ass, they'd have no problem using Article 134.
Posted by: sfcmac at January 22, 2008 03:29 PM (k6M4A)
Posted by: Diggs at January 22, 2008 03:33 PM (6T736)
Posted by: Daniel at January 22, 2008 04:07 PM (nwJit)
He's got two problems though. If his story is false...then he's got legal problems with TNR. He deliberately wrote a false story that damaged the reputation of TNR.
The fact that TNR had their house lawyer on the phone during the last conference call means TNR is none too happy with Beauchamp....
So the JAG for Beauchamps unit does the right thing...gets enough evidence to get clear Beauchamp of any UCMJ violations but not but not enough for TNR to sue Beauchamp. Then advises Beauchamp to avoid talking with anyone who has a lawyer or recorder present.
If the Army prosecuted every soldier that told a tall tale there probably wouldn't be an Army.
Posted by: Soldiers Dad at January 22, 2008 05:29 PM (YL5FC)
I believe that in the current CYA mentality of the military, that his current commander, from Battalion CO to Company CO that they both are aware of the fire that Douchechamp lit with his accusations, and probably fear for the future in the respect that if mentioned by name, the BC ( a LT Chicken) and the CO (Capt) are probably fearful of having their names publically associated when he writes his "The Army Kept Me Down and other War Crimes I Saw" book that he writes later in his life.
Having been one of the ones who helped Bob with this, it's apparent from these statements that, unlike the belief that he isn't thinking of the future, that scum sucking crapweasels (LOVE that term) like him do INDEED worry about having wiggle room down the line.
Fact is, its been apparent in both people who knew him in Germany (former fiancee) and others, that he joined the military with the express idea of becoming the next Hemingway or other such War-Writing Luminaries. His actions, as reprehensible as they may be, and despite his attempts to 'straighten out' as documented by Blackfive, still show one thing. He had the expess intent of going to Iraq in order to become a 'war writer' and his subsequent actions, to include his questionable marriage to a factchecker at TNR, shows his intent, no matter what the cost, either to him, his people, his troops or anyone immeadiately surrounding him.
His attempt to 'straighten out' in Iraq AFTER the fact can be simply explained that once his proclivity for smearing and degrading his fellow soldiers can be attributed to wanting to stay alive while he finished his in-theater tour. After all, friendly fire aint so friendly is it? Douchechamp epitomises (sp?) to me a true sociopath who cares nothing for anyone around him and would do anything to protect his own worthless hide.
Nuff said.
Posted by: Big Countryt at January 22, 2008 05:32 PM (SIzGZ)
He's got two problems though. If his story is false...then he's got legal problems with TNR. He deliberately wrote a false story that damaged the reputation of TNR.
1, He's judgement proof, or IOW, he's got no money to take even if they win. 2. In order to sue him, TNR would have to be trying to prove they got taken, a fact that they seem highly allergic to. For them, trying to sue Beauchamp would be like trying to drill an empty well with your face.
Posted by: Pablo at January 22, 2008 06:59 PM (yTndK)
Posted by: C-C-G at January 22, 2008 08:18 PM (F+vKR)
Posted by: Buck Smith at January 23, 2008 09:41 AM (8Q9/2)
Posted by: submandave at January 23, 2008 12:50 PM (ljAGw)
Point taken. Had they wished they could have found a way to charge him. Nevertheless, I stand by my original premise that his statements reflect the investigators' focus. Taking your point into account, I would refine my analysis.
There are two distinguishable areas of interest, (1) breaches of discipline which put persons or assets at immediate, identifiable risk, and (2) breaches of discipline that may violate the articles set out above but do not pose the same immediate, identifiable risk. The former demands action; failing to act is negligence and dereliction of duty for his superiors. The latter, as the regs specifically indicate, require a careful balancing of considerations.
At the point in time of the investigation, I think an astute officer could well determine that the actual risk that Beauchamp's libelous fantasies would undermine morale or good order in the ranks was less important than the consequences of appearing to censure him for writing what he wrote. The inevitable consequence of initiating disciplinary proceedings over writing what he wrote would have been a national media frenzy over alleged stifling of dissent (no matter the utter falsehoods he employed). The focus of the media, and the story, would have been shifted from Beauchamp's libels and Foer's folly to the military's alleged "oppression" of Beauchamp and "suppression" of "free speech". On the other hand, investigating what personnel actually did (as opposed to wrote) which resulted in immediate, identifiable risk, is absolutely justifiable and not subject to the same criticism. I think someone was actually using his head here, and properly identified the important issues and appropriate focus of investigation.
If I recall correctly, the only official rebuke Beauchamp got for anything he wrote was for publishing dates of movement for his unit on his blog, which was a clear violation of security.
The libelous fantasies were well ignored by military justice. His veracity was already seriously in doubt, and I suspect his popularity with his fellow soldiers had reached a new low and was sinking. Beauchamp was getting a fair portion of heat for his libels as it was, and his immediate future had to appear pretty grim to him. The downside of investigating Beauchamp for writing what he wrote as opposed to what he or other soldiers may have done outweighed any military benefits.
Which returns me to my original point. Beauchamp’s statements reflect the focus of the investigation, and were designed to clear himself of actual wrongdoing. They were probably also intended to deny his usefulness as a witness to wrongdoing by others. The perceived “wiggle room” is probably reflective of the focus of inquiry and his exculpatory intentions as opposed to a plan to preserve his options later. Whether he will actually attempt to split hairs later to justify further falsehoods remains to be seen.
Posted by: novaculus at January 23, 2008 02:35 PM (jL6zR)
Just because someone serves does not make them immune to all criticism. John Kerry tried that, now John McRINO is trying it, and it never, I say again, never flies.
Posted by: C-C-G at January 23, 2008 07:56 PM (F+vKR)
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