I wrote more about Beauchamp over at my milblog:

http://forwarddeployed.com/2007/08/07/beauchamp-c…

I'll go with "idiot".

I think he thought he could get away with it after the bloggers started going after the stories. He had the TNR asking a lot of questions, with his wife or soon-to-be wife still working there, and he was in Germany, far from Iraq, so he decided to continue the lie instead of clamming up or telling the truth and then just hoping it would go away.

He makes me think he is a good example of the Barney generation. Everything has been about validating his feelings most of his life in the US. Everybody gets a "A" and a gold star by their name. They are taught from cradle to grave that they are "special" and it is no wonder they become self-absorbed.

And I would bet the big purple dinasaur syndrome is what made him think he could do like Dorthy in the Wizard of Oz and just click his boots together and hope it would all go away like a bad dream.

But, I guess with the Scooter Libby trial, and Clinton before him, people have learned that it isn't the lie that gets ya…..it's the lie under oath…..

…and all that after going public with his identity to back up his story.

This is all very odd… but I sure can't make it out. Maybe I just can't compute this magnitude of stupid.

If the Army sat on his sworn statement to let the New Republic back themselves waaaaay out onto a limb by claiming the story was true and the facts had been checked, somebody is brilliant and deserves a step promotion.

Anyway, Beauchamp reported the truth, was forced to sign a statement claiming he lied and then was silenced by the Army so they could spin the story against him…

…or he is the absolute BIGGEST idiot that ever lived… thinking nobody would look into his story… especially after revealing his identity and inviting scrutiny.

J!

Beauchamp has signed a sworn statement declaring he lied and exaggerated everything he wrote:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2007/…

http://www.democracy-project.com/archives/003421….

A great read.

Yes, after rereading that, and other posts, on Gypsy, I was inclined to offer an "Oooops" message over there. Hehehehehe…

Tim in Angeles sendzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I think you are taking Gypsy Scholar a little to seriously. He was being a bit tongue in cheek in his posting. Fan death is an urban legend only a Korean can believe.

usinkorea,

The no charges is court martial charges. In my opinion I don't think he did anything that would warrant a court martial if all he did was lie in a magazine article. This is something that is punishable with an Article 15 not a court martial. An Article 15 is not considered as pressing charges; it is non-judicial punishment. What he did definitely pissed a lot of people off, but a lot of people make stuff up and embellish stories, he just happened to do it in a big magazine.

The big thing is that he will have multiple Article 15s against him and probably a ton of counseling statements as well because he appears to be quite a dirtbag which should expedite him getting chaptered out the military so he can go begin his career as a leftist war hero which is why he admitedly joined the Army in the first place.

I do think Chickenhawk missed the same point the TNR and the Washington Post did ——— the correction that the burnt female was (so the claim is now) in Kuwait instead of Iraq is HUGE.

As someone at Ace or elsewhere pointed out well — the whole point of that article (and the others) was how the occupation duty in Iraq had turned the soldiers into mindless sadists.

But, if he saw the woman in Kuwait, it was before he ever went into the battle zone!!

Which means he was exactly as big an asshole as the mil and conservative bloggers said they thought he was based on their experience in Iraq, the military, and/or just analyzing his claims and writing style.

One thing I haven't seen in the latest shreddings of the latest TNR claims is —— the line about the square backed bullets for the glocks that only the Iraqi police are supposed to carry…

That was a clear cut item early on that the military and other bloggers familiar with Iraq blasted.

Did the TNR get confirmation on that???

It was strangely absent in the recent verification notes on their site………

Ace and links to others that Ace provides lays out a good case for the other problems with the TNR's "verifications"…

The military hasn't done much on its end other than say the claims were false as they have checked them.

Until they or the TNR start naming other names and providing quotes to go by, it is one side saying one thing – the other saying the other —– but the TNR's ship has been rapidly sinking if not already capsized and fully torpedoed by earlier reporting. I think it has already been damaged so badly with what has come out — it is like the ship in the Poseidon Adventure….

I left a comment on Gypsy Scholar's post on fan death that you had linked. I wonder what he'll say about that? Give it a read if you are curious.

Tim in Angeles sendzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz