Army Concludes Investigation on Beauchamp Stories

Since I had some out-of-house business to attend to this morning, many people are out in front of me on Matt Sanchez’s report regarding the conclusion of the Army’s investigation of Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp’s anecdotes from Shock Troops.

After a thorough investigation that lasted nearly a week the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division has concluded that the allegations made by Private Thomas Scott Beauchamp, the "Baghdad Diarist", have been

"refuted by members of his platoon and proven to be false"

The official investigation the 4th IBCT Public Affairs Office qualified as "thorough and professional" concluded late August 1st. Officials would not speculate on the possibility of further action against Private Beauchamp, nor would they confirm his current whereabouts or status.

Additionally, Sanchez reports some other good news.

In the month of July, Operation Dragon Hammer resulted in the capture of over 110 detainees and "no mission has been delayed or adversely effected by the investigation into Private Beauchamp's allegations of misconduct among the soldiers of his unit the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment", said [Acting 4th IBCT Public Affairs Official Sergeant First Class Robert ] Timmons.

As a bonus, Confederate Yankee (Bob Owens) sent an email to Major Renee D. Russo, Third Army USARCENT PAO in Kuwait to inquire about the existence of a

a female civilian contractor at Camp Buehring with severe facial burns, and if so, when she was there.

Major Russo’s response:

We have received other media queries on the alleged incident, but have not been able to find anyone to back it up. There is not a police report or complaint filed on this incident during that timeframe. Right now it is considered to be a[n] Urban Legend or Myth.

I am still researching the incident and will have to get back with you later with any new developments.

Confederate Yankee will remain on the case:

I've also attempting to get verification form a total of five PAOs in Kuwait to see if they have any record of Franklin Foer or any other reporter or editor from The New Republic attempting to contact them prior to publishing the revised Camp Buehring claim to see if TNR made a good faith effort to verify that a contractor matching this woman's description was based in U.S. military bases in Kuwait.

There still may be a disfigured female contractor out the somewhere who would like the opportunity to kick Beauchamp in a tender place. That's about the only reason that I hope she exists.

Meanwhile, observe as TNR's credibility circles the bowl. I'm not that happy about it, however. TNR does put out some good work more than occasionally. Too bad that the Beauchamp chronicles aren't in that number.