Milblogger Matt Sanchez is posting that the 1st Infantry Divison has thoroughly reviewed the claims made by Scott Thomas Beauchamp and found them to be false. Here’s is Sanchez’ post in its entirity:

After a thorough investigation that lasted nearly a week the  4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division has concluded that the allegation made by Private Thomas Scott Beauchamp, the “Baghdad Diarist”, have been

“refuted by members of his platoon and proven to be false”

 

The official investigation the 4th IBCT Public Affairs Office qualified as “thorough and professional” concluded late August 1st.  Officials would not speculate on the possibility of further action against Private Beauchamp, nor would they confirm his current whereabouts or status. 

Sergeant First Class Robert Timmons, the acting pubic affairs official of the 4th IBCT, 1st ID, in the absence of Major Luke Luedeke, remarked that despite the high level of attention this case received in the American media, soldiers at the 4th IBCT, 1st Inf. Div, a “surge” Brigade, have not been distracted from their missions. 

In the month of July, Operation Dragon Hammer resulted in the capture of over 110 detainees and “no mission has been delayed or adversely effected by the investigation into Private Beauchamp’s allegations of misconduct among the soldiers of his unit the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment”, said Timmons.

The 4th IBCT, 1st ID Area of Operations, Rasheed District in Western Baghdad is one of the toughest and most violet districts in the Iraqi capital. 

Yet TNR-forgive me-soldiers on with their denials. Or rather,  attempts at them. They confirm some events with anonymous soldiers. These same soldiers confirm with Emails that one soldier did wear a piece of a child’s skull on his head and TNR further confirms the story by saying a forensic pathologists said it “could’ fit a an adults head.

They’re serious.

They also confirm the story of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle running over dogs first with one of their anonymous Emails and then with someone from the company that manufactures the Bradley’s who confirms that the vehicle “could’ do this. Read for yourself:

The last section of the Diarist described soldiers using Bradley Fighting Vehicles to kill dogs. On this topic, one soldier who witnessed the incident described by Beauchamp, wrote in an e-mail: “How you do this (I’ve seen it done more than once) is, when you approach the dog in question, suddenly lurch the Bradley on the opposite side of the road the dog is on. The rear-end of the vehicle will then swing TOWARD the animal, scaring it into running out into the road. If it works, the dog is running into the center of the road as the driver swings his yoke back around the other way, and the dog becomes a chalk outline.” TNR contacted the manufacturer of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle System, where a spokesman confirmed that the vehicle is as maneuverable as Beauchamp described. Instructors who train soldiers to drive Bradleys told us the same thing. And a veteran war correspondent described the tendency of stray Iraqi dogs to flock toward noisy military convoys.

The Ist ID’s report stated that soldiers were interviewed in Beaucahmp’s own platoon (up to 50 total) and Beauchamp’s essay’s were found to be false, yet TNR uses even more anonymous sources in hope it will go away. The “fake but accurate angel will be next.”

Here’s Jeff Emanuel from TAS. 

Confederate Yankee slams the disfigured woman story.

Michael Goldfarb of the Weekly Standard, who’s been in the lead on this story, has another letter that refutes the TNR correction.

Hat tip to Charles Johnson

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