Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Eleemosynary (talk | contribs) at 18:54, 3 August 2007 (removed reference to gay porn actor Matt Sanchez, whose veracity about several matters is in dispute (see his page)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Scott Thomas Beauchamp
Born	(1983-11-12) November 12, 1983 (age 41) USA
Occupation(s)	writer, soldier

Scott Thomas Beauchamp (b. 1983 East St. Louis, Illinois) is a private in the United States Army, serving in the Iraq War, and a member of Alpha Company, 1/18 Infantry, Second Brigade Combat Team, First Infantry Division.

Under the pen name Scott Thomas, Beauchamp posted three diary entries about the war at The New Republic, the final one of which recalled incidents that described a less-than-heroic side of American soldiers in Iraq, himself included. The veracity of these entries has been called into question by The Weekly Standard, the National Review, bloggers such as Michelle Malkin, as well as SFC Hatley in Iraq, who is reported to be Beauchamp's NCO.

On July 27, The Washington Post reported that Beauchamp did not provide documentation for his three published columns. According to New Republic editor Franklin Foer, at least one soldier in Beauchamp's unit has since then confirmed the events described. According to Foer, Beauchamp is married to Elspeth Reeve, a New Republic reporter and researcher, which is how the magazine found him initially, as well as 'part of the reason why we found him to be a credible writer.'" The magazine plans to "re-report every detail," even though Beauchamp is no longer permitted to communicate with anyone overseas.

Beauchamp objected to claims of falsification in a follow-up posting on The New Republic: "It's been maddening...to see the plausibility of events that I witnessed questioned by people who have never served in Iraq."

Content of "Shock Troops" article that started the controversy

Beauchamp described how he made fun of a woman whose face had been severely scarred by an IED: "I love chicks that have been intimate with IEDs," Beauchamp quotes himself as saying, loudly, to his friends in the chow hall. "It really turns me on -- melted skin, missing limbs, plastic noses," he recounted. "My friend was practically falling out of his chair laughing... The disfigured woman slammed her cup down and ran out of the chow hall."

Next he described finding the remains of children in a mass grave uncovered while his unit constructed a combat outpost: "One private...found the top part of a human skull... As he marched around with the skull on his head, people dropped shovels and sandbags, folding in half with laughter... No one was disgusted. Me included."

Finally, Beauchamp described another soldier "who only really enjoyed driving Bradley Fighting Vehicles because it gave him the opportunity to run things over. He took out curbs, concrete barriers, corners of buildings, stands in the market, and his favorite target: dogs." Beauchamp described how the soldier killed three dogs in one day: "He slowed the Bradley down to lure the first kill in, and, as the diesel engine grew quieter, the dog walked close enough for him to jerk the machine hard to the right and snag its leg under the tracks."

Accuracy questions

The Weekly Standard questioned Beauchamp's accounts of harassing a disfigured woman, the excavation of the mass grave near Baghdad, and the "Bradleys careening wildly through the streets of Baghdad," and called for people to step forward with information. These statements were questioned by The Weekly Standard, and others, for the following reasons: The injuries of the woman seemed not to match those of an IED victim, and such an outburst would have witnesses and likely also ramifications; a mass grave should have been reported (although a simple cemetery would not have been), and officers likely would reprimand prolonged public mischief; and any vehicle "careening wildly" would be at high risk of running into an explosive device, its behavior putting its occupants in extreme peril. Others questions regarded specific details, such as weapons, that might prove whether he'd fabricated his stories, and noted that his allegedly factual stories about his time in Iraq strongly mirrored fictional stories he wrote prior to his time in Iraq. Multinational Force Iraq categorically dismissed Beauchamp's allegations, and stated "In the absence of any credible information or independent corroboration, we presently have no reason to believe it."

TNR investigation

After questions about Beauchamp's writing arose, The New Republic began its own investigation of the statements. In a note published on their website on August 2, the editors wrote that they had confirmed that the conversation about the disfigured woman occurred, but that it had happened at a training base in Kuwait, before Beauchamp had reached Iraq. Regarding the story about a soldier who had marched around with a piece of a child's skull, The New Republic found a fellow soldier who confirmed the story. The New Republic also found a fellow soldier who confirmed the story about a Bradley driver who ran over a dog. TNR found five members of Beauchamp's company that corroborated his anecdotes.

TNR contacted dozens of people. Editors and staffers spoke numerous times with Beauchamp. We also spoke with current and former soldiers, forensic experts, and other journalists who have covered the war extensively. And we sought assistance from Army Public Affairs officers. Most important, we spoke with five other members of Beauchamp's company, and all corroborated Beauchamp's anecdotes, which they witnessed or, in the case of one solider, heard about contemporaneously. (All of the soldiers we interviewed who had first-hand knowledge of the episodes requested anonymity.)

• 1983 births
• Living people
• United States Army soldiers
• American military personnel of the Iraq War
• University of Missouri–Columbia alumni