Baghdad Diarist Sheds His Pseudonym
Since the wingnut blogs are scrambling to try to discredit him, good for Scott for coming out from the shadows. Will he get apologies for all the ugliness they've thrown at him? I don't think so either...
NY Times: (reg. req'd.)
The decision of an Army private who has been writing anonymously for The New Republic to reveal his identity has not quieted critics at the rival Weekly Standard who continue to question the accuracy of the soldier's deeply critical accounts from Iraq.
The statement from Scott Thomas Beauchamp on tnr.com.The soldier, Scott Thomas Beauchamp, a member of Company A, 1/18 Infantry, Second Brigade Combat Team of the First Infantry Division, posted a statement Thursday on The New Republic's Web site (tnr.com) saying, "It's been maddening, to say the least, to see the plausibility of events that I witnessed questioned by people who have never served in Iraq."
Private Beauchamp, who wrote "Baghdad Diarist" under the pseudonym Scott Thomas, said: "My Diarist, ‘Shock Troops,' and the two other pieces I wrote for The New Republic have stirred more controversy than I could ever have anticipated. They were written under a pseudonym because I wanted to write honestly about my experiences, without fear of reprisal. Unfortunately, my pseudonym has caused confusion."
Private Beauchamp recounted some grotesque incidents in his columns, including his own mocking of a woman disfigured by the war and accounts of a soldier who took joy in running over a dog in a Bradley fighting vehicle and another who found the top of a child's skull and wore it on his head as a joke.
