Which camp is Beauchamp in?

This post will take an in-depth look at Scott Thomas Beauchamp, a member of Alpha Company, 1/18 Infantry, Second Brigade Combat Team, First Infantry Division, who wrote a series of blog posts for The Plank, published under the pseudonym Scott Thomas for The New Republic and printed in that magazine. His diary of atrocities he says he witnessed in Iraq have been under investigation after The Weekly Standard questioned his reports, one titled, “Shock Troops.” In the meantime, here is his statement:

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. And there seems to be one major way in which I can clarify the debate over my pieces: I’m willing to stand by the entirety of my articles for the New Republic using my real name.

I am Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp, a member of Alpha Company, 1/18 Infantry, Second Brigade Combat Team, First Infantry Division.

My pieces were always intended to provide my discrete view of the war; they were never intended as a reflection of the entire U.S. Military. I wanted Americans to have one soldier’s view of events in Iraq.

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. I was initially reluctant to take the time out of my already insane schedule fighting an actual war in order to play some role in an ideological battle that I never wanted to join. That being said, my character, my experiences, and those of my comrades in arms have been called into question, and I believe that it is important to stand by my writing under my real name.

–Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp

Upon further investigation, I will publish my opinion.

When a blogger murders the news

 

I was intrigued when I read a blogger’s post titled, “A Shot Heard in Far Rockaway is Felt in Fulham” about two distinct shootings on opposite sides of the Atlantic, one in Far Rockaway, Queens, NY and the other in Fulham, a suburban area of west London, England. As I familiarized myself with the story, I found some discrepancies in his version and what actually transpired and I believe it to be a distortion of the truth. In it, he represented himself as a friend of the Queens victim. How sad that a person would accept offers of sympathy from his unsuspecting audience over the death of this friend in light of the facts I will relate here. I looked into the Far Rockaway shooting as he described it and found nothing. I talked to professionals working the field and at the (NYPD) 101st Precinct. I went to news wires and feeds. I tried search engines.

What caught my attention was evident from the start, that he and the victim were friends and the victim had just arrived from Haiti to live the American dream. The blogger didn’t strike me as a person who’s spent much time on that island nation. How did he cultivate this friendship? How did they meet? Queens is not exactly in New Jersey’s back yard, where the blogger is based. Neither is Haiti. Something just didn’t click.

Interestingly, with all of the murders in NYC, I was case specific in my query. Rightfully so. I asked about a Haitian immigrant who was shot in the collarbone, based on the blogger’s description of “his friend’s” senseless murder. The bullet that struck his collarbone careened into the heart, killing him instantly. In reality, the unfortunate gentleman who met his demise in the news account was not a “recent immigrant from Haiti” at all, nor was he shot in the collarbone, unless it somehow worked its way from the eye to the collarbone to the heart. The victim had been living here for years and was from Guyana, not exactly within swimming distance of Haiti. Certainly, he should have known where his “friend” was from and how long he’d been here. I kept thinking it’s not the same shooting, they’re not related, but there was no other incident and his story crumbled.

Was this an unprofessional attempt to elicit sympathy for the overall message of his post calling for a worldwide ban on handguns? If so, he should have done more homework and gotten his facts straight. Although weapons of this nature are legal to buy in America, most used in the commission of a crime are not purchased by the book and ‘Saturday Night Specials’ are next to impossible to trace. So are the bullets. He tied this shooting to one in London. Britain has some of the most restrictive laws in the world that make it virtually impossible to legitimately purchase firearms, which means that both crimes were more than likely committed with illegal guns. The attempt to tie the two together was feeble at best, and because of a lack of solid information based on facts, it diluted the focus of the message. He used a falsehood as a pretext to further his own questionable motive. Was it about the evils of handguns or a cry for sympathy over the loss of a friend?

In the realm of non-fiction journalism, in this case what I would consider to be more of an op-ed piece, writers must not stray from the truth. Embellishment and personal gain are words that should not be part of the vocabulary. The world is filled with distortions and with the tools we have readily available today, all reports of news events will be put under microscopes somewhere, sometime, by someone. Bloggers, especially of this genre, are no different from any other journalist and it’s only a matter of time before a watchdog comes forth to scrutinize and expose what is recorded as factual. Until then, readers beware.

Although I did not know him, my sympathies go to the friends and family of the deceased, Urtez Burnett, and none to the imagination of the author of that post.

Here is a link to the factual account of the Far Rockaway incident: http://guyanafriends.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/431601562/m/62510674141

If you or anyone you know has information on this, please call CRIMESTOPPERS at 1-877-577-TIPS or the 101st Precinct Detective Squad at 718-868-3428.

 

This is an opinion piece about a blog and should be interpreted as such.