Beaucoup Beauchamp

by folkbum

I'm kind of late with this, but since Scott Thomas Beauchamp ended up a topic of conversation a while back (at the same time leaving this blog scarily high in the google searches for gay porn), I thought I'd offer this update from Josh Marshall

The short version is that the Army's investigation of the case appears to be confined to a) releasing no information about their investigation or details of its findings, b) leaking alleged details to the Weekly Standard, which no one will confirm on the record and c) keeping Beauchamp himself in communications lockdown where no one but family members in monitored conversations can communicate with him.

Perhaps Beauchamp made this stuff up. And that's not a throwaway line; I freely concede it may turn out to be the case. There's no getting around the fact that the legacy of the Glass Affair puts an extra hurdle of credibility in TNR's way.

But the behavior of the Army Public Affairs Office suggests that what they are pushing is not an investigation that would pass any muster in the light of day but a war against a particular article and publication.

And not to put too fine a point on it, but going back over recent years--the WMD stories, al Qaeda link, the Iraq War and more--when you've got the goods, you take it to a real press outlet. When you're blowing smoke, you take it to the Standard.

I agree with Josh: There's every chance that the Standard is right and the whole Beauchamp thing is crap. On the other hand, there's every chance that The New Republic had it right, and the army is using a friendly publication and its power to control access to Beauchamp to spread untruths about its actions. It wouldn't be the first time.