McCain On TNR's Fictions: "I'm shocked that gambling would be going on at that establishment"

Heh.

They're laughingstocks.

I guess this is the appropriate place to note that Foer whined to Howie Kurtz yesterday, claiming a second conversation with Beauchamp -- this one not monitored by the army -- in which Beauchamp, as Ellie Reeves pleaded, re-affirms the story.

Michael Goldfarb of WS tipped me about this last night, and I guess I don't have much to say about it. FWIW, I believe Foer that Beauchamp re-affirmed the story. I also believe this is pretty irrelevant.

Howie Kurtz seems to think this more or less settles the story. All you need is a liar to repeat his lie and that makes it true.

TNR has yet to explain why it chose to conceal these conversations.

Michael Yon on second chances:

. When I replied that I just have a little blog, the word caught his ears and he mentioned Beauchamp, who I acknowledged having heard something about. LTC Glaze seemed protective of Beauchamp, despite how the young soldier had maligned his fellow soldiers. In fact, the commander said Beauchamp, having learned his lesson, was given the chance to leave or stay.

It can be pretty tough over here. The soldiers in Beauchamp’s unit have seen a lot of combat. Often times soldiers are working in long stretches of urban guerrilla combat dogged by fatigue and sleep deprivation. This is likely one of the most stressful jobs in the world, especially when millions of people are screaming at you for failures that happened three years or more ago, and for decisions to invade Iraq that were made when you were still a teenager. Just as bad is the silence from the untold millions who have already written off your effort as hopeless. Add that to the fact that buddies are getting killed in front of you. (More than 70 killed in Beauchamp’s brigade.) I see what these young men and women go through, and the extraordinary professionalism they nearly always manage to exude awes me on a daily basis.

Lapses of judgment are bound to happen, and accountability is critical, but that’s not the same thing as pulling out the hanging rope every time a soldier makes a mistake.

Beauchamp is young; under pressure he made a dumb mistake. In fact, he has not always been an ideal soldier. But to his credit, the young soldier decided to stay, and he is serving tonight in a dangerous part of Baghdad. He might well be seriously injured or killed here, and he knows it. He could have quit, but he did not. He faced his peers. I can only imagine the cold shoulders, and worse, he must have gotten. He could have left the unit, but LTC Glaze told me that Beauchamp wanted to stay and make it right. Whatever price he has to pay, he is paying it.

Well there is some perspective.

On the other hand, Michael Yon wants the "cowards" at TNR "treed like raccoons" so he can wear them as a hat.

posted by Ace at 12:39 PM

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