In The lying dogs of war, Matt Sanchez addresses Franklin Foer’s article on how the New Republic lied on their “Baghdad Diarist” series. Foer managed in his article to work in a personal dig at Matt,
On August 1, six days after the “skulls on their head in sector” meeting, the Army concluded its investigation. Two days later, a public affairs officer announced that Beauchamp’s piece had been “refuted by members of his platoon and proven to be false.” The Army didn’t announce this to The New York Times or even The Weekly Standard, let alone in a public report. It first gave the story of Beauchamp’s supposed fraudulence to a former porn actor turned blogger named Matt Sanchez.
Where to start?
First of all, Foer is defending a lie. Not just any lie, but a lie that he personally tried to maintain for weeks to no end. No matter who the Army first gave the story to, the story was a lie.
In second place, the Army gave the story to Matt because Matt was there. As you can appreciate by browsing through Matt’s website, he’s been with the troops in Iraq reporting the truth.
And then, as I have previously stated, it’s not the conservatives who have psycho-sexual issues. Foer may dismiss Matt’s writing because of his past, but wouldn’t the same standard apply to often-married former brothel madam Maya Angelou?
But never mind that; as Matt says,
Foer, never the shrinking violet, asserts his detractors weren’t professionals, just conservatives, bloggers and pornstars. Franklin may have learned this haughtiness from his time at Columbia University where the righteousness of one’s leftist cause is always beyond reproach.
In frustration, Foer writes that Gen. David Petraeus’ spokesman, Col. Steven Boylan, took forever to get back to him, because he apparently didn’t realize that a call from the New Republic in Washington was far more important than all that silly surge stuff going on in Baghdad.
No one had a problem contacting Maj. Luke Luedeke, public affairs officer at Forward Operating Base Falcon, the home of the Baghdad Diarist. In fact, when I returned to FOB Falcon, Luedeke told me he was swamped by major media requests. I specifically asked if Franklin Foer or someone from the New Republic had been in contact. Luedeke replied, “They called once, a couple of days ago and haven’t called back since.” This is what Foer called “pleading with the Army” for information.
Once at Falcon, I just spoke to the public affairs officer and proceeded to execute what is commonly referred to as reporting.
The higher-ups at FOB Falcon said Beauchamp quickly recanted his Baghdad Diarist stories. I asked the Army if I could talk to the private and was told Beauchamp did not want to speak to any more media. As anyone who has been around the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan knows, there are plenty of jokes and rumors told just to pass the time, or as the editor-in-chief of the New Republic likes to call them, an opportunity to give his liberal readers the kind of imagery they need to justify those long therapy sessions and costly anti-depressants.
Read it all.
Matt has another article, Kicking out the Taliban
Huge Pearl Harbor Day air assault on Afghanistan
Also don’t miss his post Trauma, shrapnel, and the fight for life.
Matt has been my podcast guest twice: when he called from Iraq,and when he called from Germany prior to going to Afghanistan. Go listen.
