Crumbling Credibility at The New Republic

The US military responds to the posting written at The New Republic (TNR) after being made aware of the situation. In particular, it is the public affairs officer for the camp where the incidents supposedly took place that issued a response:

Hey Matt:

Here are the facts as best I have established them, along with the actions I have taken here at Falcon.

1. I was notified of the New Republic blog entries yesterday (Friday) by documentarian JD Johannes, who had spent time with us as an embed in May. He was concerned about the reports, but also expressed doubt in their veracity. He provided the New Republic and Weekly Standard response to the blog entry links.

2. I was able to immediately refute the assertion that a mass graveyard of children's skeletons was found; an event such as this would have been reported during the construction of Coalition Outpost Ellis, the only such COP that exists in the area the blogger described (rural, south of BIAP).

3. The stories of the burned woman and hitting dogs with Bradleys can't be as decisively disputed, however, I have not encountered a woman matching that description at any time on Falcon since arriving here on 17 Feb. You would think that someone with such visible wounds would stand out in memorable fashion. This doesn't mean that she wasn't a visitor at some point, but I find the account of Soldiers mocking her dubious at best.

4. I immediately notified MAJ Lamb of MND-B PAO, who advised me to send him the link and pertinent information on the New Republic's blog posts, which I did. He informed me of his intent to engage the CENTCOM blog team to see if they could take action, and at the very least, make them aware of the situation.

5. I contacted the only unit in our brigade that has Bradleys, 1-18 IN, and advised their XO of the situation, recommending that they talk to their Soldiers about Army values and the Warrior ethos, reminding them of the rules for blogging in uniform and also reminding them of integrity and telling the truth. The bottom line: If you put something out there you should be willing to put your name next to it and stand by it. That he and New Rpublic are insisting on anonymity is very telling here.

Per COL Boylan's request, I have prepared the following:

1. There was no mass grave found during the construction of any of our coalition outposts in the Rashid District at any time. Such a discovery would have prompted an investigation and close attention paid at levels higher than ours to making sure that the victims were properly interred and attempts would have been made to determine their identities. It is difficult to fathom that a unit's leadership would condone Soldiers disrespecting the remains of anyone in the fashion described.

2. Due to the threat of IEDs, our combat vehicles are driven professionally and in control at all times. To be driving erratically so as to hit dogs or other things would be to put the entire vehicle's crew at risk and would be gross dereliction of duty by the noncommissioned officer or officer in charge of the vehicle. Drivers aren't allowed to simply free-wheel their vehicles however they see fit, and they are *not* allowed to be moved anywhere with out a vehicle commander present to supervise the movement. Therefore- claims of vehicles leaving the roadways to hit animals are highly dubious, given the very real threat of IEDs and normal standards of conduct.

3. As for the alleged woman with severe burn scars, we have nobody matching that description here at FOB Falcon. As Soldiers, we practice the value of Respect: "Treat people as you want to be treated." If the blogger and his friends can't live the Army value of respect, I have little doubt that someone around them who does would have made an on-the-spot correction. The Falcon dining facility is not a spacious one. Anyone being rude, loud or raucous calls immediate attention to himself. It is hard to fathom that anyone would be able to get away with such callous behavior without somebody intervening and stopping it from happening.

Major Kirk Luedeke
Public Affairs Officer
4th IBCT, 1st ID
DRAGONS

So, what have we learned? It would appear that it is a definitive lie that any graves were upset in the construction of any of the outposts and the story that a soldier walked around with the skull of a child on their head. Such a discovery would have prompted a response up the chain of command and reports of a mass grave would have also likely prompted a press release with the MNF-I.

The idea that a driver of one of the unit's vehicles would drive in the manner alleged is highly suspect since it would be the lives of those in the vehicle at serious risk of injury or death considering the IED threat.

It is more difficult to track down whether there was ever a woman matching the description alleged, but there is no such woman matching the description at the base currently.

Dan Riehl notes that while the facts of this story are coming apart, Franklin Foer, the editor of TNR is holding to that statement posted on Friday. While the stories get debunked, Foer claims that those attacking the story have an ideological agenda. I have an agenda alright - making sure we get the truth and facts straight.

It would appear that Foer isn't so inclined.

Neptunus Lex notes that TNR thought that the story was too good to fact check.

Mudville Gazette once again weighs in.

UPDATE:
JD Johannes, who writes Outside the Wire and has been writing news posts from in and around Iraq as an embedded journalist, calls on Scott Thomas to email him. After all, Johannes has been through that area of Iraq, stayed with the unit in question, and knows the terrain.

UPDATE:
Blackfive weighs in once again and lays into "Scott Thomas" and TNR for publishing this tripe. Indeed. He further notes:

I've had a bird's eye view of how our military operates and for an instrument of war it does one hell of a lot of good. Obviously it is a killing machine, but it is the most finely calibrated one ever deployed, and one that takes enormous steps to ensure that civilians are not harmed by it's actions. That alone distinguishes us from the rest of the world's armies. Look at the excremental record of UN "Peacekeepers" in comparison. The one thing the UN guarantees is a huge increase in child rape. Our forces on the other hand will likely be found giving vaccinations, digging wells or building schools. So Bite me Franklin Foer, not only are you a crap editor by even the low standards of journalism, but you are an ill-informed punk who allowed yourself and your rag to be used to smear a group of people who collectively and individually dwarf your moral and ethical stature. And as for Scott Thomas, I won't bother to do more than call you a liar and a remind you that eventually you will brag about this to someone and you will be unmasked.

Read it all.

Rick Moran thinks that TNR needs to establish an independent commission to investigate the situation completely. Well, investigating after the fact is too late. They were supposed to fact check the stories before publication, not after. These are serious problems and an investigation does little to reverse the damage done by its publication.

Others blogging: Cao's Blog, Blue Star Chronicles, Gateway Pundit, and Wake Up America.