Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups





















« Bircheresque Crank: I'm A Bircheresque Crank, And What's Wrong With That? | Main | DailyKos Diarist: Supportin' The Troops »
July 20, 2007

Breaking: TNR "Investigating" "Scott Thomas"

But so far they say it looks solid.

Which is, you know, exactly how Stephen Glass' stories looked the first few times they looked into them.

Whenever anybody levels serious accusations against a piece published in our magazine, we take those charges seriously. Indeed, we're in the process of investigating them. I've spoken extensively with the author of the piece and have communicated with other soldiers who witnessed the events described in the diarist. Thus far, these conversations have done nothing to undermine--and much to corroborate--the author's descriptions. I will let you know more after we complete our investigation.

There are other soldiers who witnessed these events? That's surprising to me, but, assuming it's true (which, alas, I do) it does tend to clear TNR of the charges of allowing a new Stephen Glass to write for them.

Doesn't mean what this guy is saying is true -- but it does at least mean they have something besides his say-so for the stories.

I have to say, though, that there's a lot of wiggle-room in that claim. Corroboration is claimed, but not what specifically has been corroborated. That he was based where he says he was based? That hardly means his specific claims about what he saw there were true.

TNR needs to explain, quickly, what specific parts of "Scott Thomas'" warcrimes travelogue are corrobrated by other witnesses and to what extent. I'd be interested to know if, say, the "corroboration" for the dog-crushing driver consists of something like "Yeah, I heard that once too."


Thanks to Drew.

More: Gunbunny Confederate Yankee On Those Unique Square-Backed Glocks Used By The IP: Not so unique.

Glock pistols have been on the commercial market for decades, and are quite common worldwide. Glocks are a common and favored handgun on the Iraqi black market:

Glock pistols were also easy to find. One young Iraqi man, Rebwar Mustafa, showed a Glock 19 he had bought at the bazaar in Kirkuk last year for $900. Five of his friends have bought identical models, he said.

He includes citations for various Glocks being captured from insurgents or sold on the black market.

This bit doesn't suggest Scott Thomas is a fabulist, or ignorant, so much as it suggests he's willing to make fairly large inferences based on slight evidence to get a juicy story for his pals at TNR. I think the whole square-back mystery is well solved -- he either carelessly wrote "square back" to indicate the square indentation from the firing pin, or else his gun-ignorant editor attempted to simplify his language and in so doing made it inaccurate -- but his claim -- that he therefore knew the IP must be responsible for a killing -- is hardly compelled by the evidence.

It seems more compelled by the imperative to produce exciting, dramatic, propagandistic copy.

And it doesn't lend much credence to his other claims.


digg this
posted by Ace at 06:41 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
It's me donna : "Sounds like a nut to me...Is it true he's out on 5 ..."

Skip : "I head back to 202. And thanks for Rally tip, woul ..."

weft cut-loop[/i][/b] [/s]: "I looked into making pita at home ... ( —_> ..."

San Franpsycho: "Nonsense. I blame your current circumstances for r ..."

J.J. Sefton: " Oh how I miss my momma's cooking. Chicken papr ..."

creeper : "Ugh. ..."

JTB: "Another first this week: had my first grass fed st ..."

Divide by Zero [/i]: " [i]Wait, being an angry white person or calling ..."

Tonypete: "Cynar? Posted by: naturalfake Same to you f ..."

IrishEi: "Tonight's dinner is a Cabbage Roll Casserole which ..."

naturalfake: "too late with the Cynar. *kicks rock* ..."

naturalfake: "[i]What's that French aperitif from artichokes? P ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64