TNR's Foer: Drudge's Documents Could Have Come Only From the Army (UPDATE)
Franklin Foer, editor of The New Republic, said in an interview that the documents Matt Drudge posted this afternoon—and removed several hours later without explanation—could have only come from the Army.
Mr. Foer said he called TNR’s contact there, Major Kirk Luedeke, as soon as the documents appeared on Drudge’s Web site. According to Mr. Foer, Major Luedeke told him that the Army was “investigating the source of the leak,” though they did not explicitly take responsibility for it.
“It’s maddening to see the Army selectively leak to the Drudge Report things that we’ve been trying to obtain from them through Freedom of Information Act requests,” Mr. Foer said. “This fits a pattern in this case where the army has leaked a lot of stuff to right wing blogs.”
Mr. Foer said TNR had been trying since July to get access to some of the documents Mr. Drudge posted, but that the Army had not cooperated.
Among these was the Army’s final report on its investigation into Mr. Beauchamp’s TNR pieces. The report concludes that portions of those pieces had been “completely fabricated."
UPDATE: In an e-mail to the Media Mob, Major Luedeke of the 4th Brigade Public Affairs office said, “All I can tell you is that the leak did not originate with this office, and that the Army is looking into who is responsible. That process is being handled at levels above this brigade, however."
E-mails to Mr. Drudge have not been returned.
So... Foer didn't have access to his *own* conversation with Beauchamp?
Ridiculous!
Look, Mr. Foer, just admit that Scott lied, and that you helped him. Simple!
So...he expected the army to provide him a transcript of the conversation that he had with Beauchamp? What...Journalistic integrity forced him to not divulge recent developments in the story that brings his own credibility into question? I find it interesting that Foer himself was requesting the Beauchamp not speak to others in a blatant CYA moment. Considering all the primary info that he had from Beauchamp himself, it instead seems that Foer is upset that the story has worked it's way out of his reach. Leaks...Okay if it's outing a secret military prison in Europe...not Okay if it's exposing falsehoods of TNR.
Hey, Frank... I thought you told us the Army wouldn't let you talk to Scott.
TNR -- Ruth Shalit, Stephen Glass, now the Baghdad Diarist. Do you have to have any background in journalism at all to get on staff there? And what's up with the editors? How dare anyone bring attention to the editors who seem to find themselves in this same position over and over and over again.
Foer reminds me of the kid who murdered his parents and then sobs to the judge he should be acquitted because he is now an orphan. What a pathetic liar and loser he is.
What motive would the military have in leaking those documents, which tend to raise questions rather than paint the picture entirely black for the diarist? The military already had the more damning headlines some time ago that their own investigation had found he had fabricated or exaggerated elements of his articles. It's a leak by someone at TNR prompted by anxiety over TNR still dragging its feet -- someone who, like the Baghdad Diarist himself, just wants it to end at this point. Possibly it was leaked by the diarist's wife, who is an editor at TNR and begged him not to recant (which he didn't) and probably pushed him in over his head in the first place and is feeling the heat; the documents don't put her husband in the best light but they don't exactly damn him either, and that's the case regardless of whether it's his place in the military or his possible writing future.
This is a ridiculous claim by Foer. And, according to the transcripts -- an out and out lie.
Foer and attorney (Gene) talked with Beauchamp about getting Beauchamp, not the Army, to release the documents.
This was during the phone call that took place while Foer was stating that TNR had no contact with Beauchamp and that Beauchamp was being cut off from any communication -- except that Beauchamp was updating his blog and MySpace during that time.
Foer tried to use Beauchamp's wife against him -- "nothing she wants more than for you not to recant", to try to cover his own mistakes in not fact checking this story.
Multiple witnesses turned out to be one person.
Sorry Mr. Foer, but you are completely discredited and not believeable.
Stand up and tell the truth.
I don't get it either. After everything that has been revealed today, all Foer can do is complain about the disclosure? While I am not thrilled that someone in the Army apparently leaked unredacted copies of these documents to Drudge, it is important to note that so far neither Foer (in the above interview) nor Jonathan Chait of TNR (in a discussion with Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review Online earlier this afternoon - linked here: http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzBkNjFmY2Y0MDdhMzAwOGFiNzk4Y2Y...) have disputed the accuracy of the transcript. Trust me, if Foer believed the transcript was in error to any extent, he would be screaming about it to all who could hear. And that's not happening. Drudge's analysis might have been a little overreaching, but that isn't relevant. The transcript doesn't contain an explicit "I faked everything" confession from Beauchamp, but they tell us a lot about TNR's mindset at the time. Drudge has taken down his links to the unredacted documents but they're now in the open and available all over the net. Readers should review the transcript and judge for themselves whether the behavior of Foer et al. on that telephone call is worthy of an ethical and trustworthy journalist.
What? Foer gets to lie about the story and the Army and he's upset the Army may or may not have released audio of him proving he was lying. Typical media anymore, totally make up news at time and havew just given up on even trying to look impartial
as they jamb down our throats their bias driven agenda. Leaving out details and out of context statements are the norm anymore.
Yeah, it's bloody frustrating to see our military secrets leaked on the front page of the New York Times, too.
Pot. Kettle.
Let's see...lying, unethical "journalism", more lying, attacking the military every opportunity he gets. It really doesn't get any more disgusting than the actions of Franklin Foer!
Did you catch how little Franklin alleges the Army "selectively" leaked documents? I think our dear boy is lamely trying to muddy the waters by implying that the documents posted on Drudge were not complete. My advice, Franklin, is to address the content of the documents, instead of blaming the leak on some vast right-wing military/blogger conspiracy that your fevered imagination has concocted. Now you have the documents you wanted, Franklin. It's time to explain the cover-up, please!
And, Franklin, please tell us why you made your "little Hemingway" shut his mouth instead of talking, as scheduled, to Newsweek and the Washington Post. That's not journalism, Franklin. What about the public's right to know?
Did you catch how little Franklin alleges the Army "selectively" leaked documents? I think our dear boy is lamely trying to muddy the waters by implying that the documents posted on Drudge were not complete. My advice, Franklin, is to address the content of the documents, instead of blaming the leak on some vast right-wing military/blogger conspiracy that your fevered imagination has concocted. Now you have the documents you wanted, Franklin. It's time to explain the cover-up, please!
And, Franklin, please tell us why you made your "little Hemingway" shut his mouth instead of talking, as scheduled, to Newsweek and the Washington Post. That's not journalism, Franklin. What about the public's right to know?
Why not Beauchamp himself, and not his wife at TNR, being the one to leak the documents? Beauchamp was the one Foer was trying to get the docs from in the first place, he's the one who wants this over, he's the one not in jeopardy with the military or his possible writing future -- and leaking the docs would serve him best all around in this scenario. Bonus: the docs make Foer and TNR look really really bad. Doubt it was his wife for that reason alone.
TNR -- Ruth Shalit, Stephen Glass, now the Baghdad Diarist. --
you forgot Eve Fairbanks.
Pot. Kettle.
Foer. Fool.
My goodness... Foer has become an embarrassment.
Lemmie get this straight... Foer whines that he couldn't get access... to his own conversations.
Wow... that is pathetic.
All of these headaches could be avoided if TNR just admitted it's a journal of fiction.
In the transcript, the TNR editors ask Beauchamp if he's requested they get a copy of the Army investigation, as he'd promised to do weeks earlier. He says he's been too busy. They try to get him to fax a waiver immediately so his lawyer can request that TNR get copies. Beauchamp stalls. My guess is that he never asked the Army to release the documents to TNR, which is why they had to resort to a Freedom of Information Act request.
It's possible TNR editors read the Army report for the first time on Drudge. Still, when Beauchamp refused to answer any questions or to stand by his story in the Sept. 7 phone conversation, the editors had to know he was untrustworthy. Why stake your magazine's reputation on a writer's credibility when he's not willing to stand by his own stories?
Ego, Joanne, history at the publication for scandals involving fabrication, and the fact that Beauchamp's wife is a reporter at TNR. One big hairy intertwined mess.
Has anybody thought up the possibility that it was Beauchamp himself who sent Drudge the copy? Maybe he is ticked off at TNR and wants some payback.
Yep Mr. Lawson, in this very comment section there's been speculation that Beauchamp himself leaked the documents -- unlike the military or his wife, Beauchamp has the best motive for leaking them and is the best served of anyone by the widespread release of those materials.
Question for the Cheese Empire: Okay, let's say you've narrowed the source of the leak to the likeliest suspect. Why, I ask, did Drudge pull everything? Anyone?
Assuming it was Beauchamp who leaked to Drudge (and I'm still leaning toward it being a leak from someone inside TNR who has finally hit the anxiety roof over TNR dragging its feet and who like the Baghdad Diarist also at this point just wants this over, suggesting to me it's his wife) but assuming it *is* Beauchamp himself then ... Panic is why Drudge pulled everything. Not panic on Drudge's part. Panic on Beauchamp's part. If Beauchamp leaked the documents for all the reasons laid out here (it would serve him best, he wants this over, etc.) then it seems like it would have been he did so on an impulse for those reasons, because he otherwise wanted to just disappear, didn't want to talk about any of this really. Maybe he got caught up in one moment of how well it would serve him to release the documents and then panicked, thinking he might have made things only worse.
Can't be why. Doesn't ring true for some reason.
Re: Why Drudge took the documents down
My guess is that it was because the PDFs Drudge posted were raw, unredacted copies. They contained names of third parties (possibly members of SB's unit) and other details that probably are supposed to be kept confidential. Maybe someone at the Pentagon or lower down the chain asked Drudge to take down the unredacted copies for that reason.
It is important to note again that Foer and Chait have effectively vouched for the accuracy of the transcript Drudge posted.
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Neal K -- makes sense. Also: How likely is it the military generally would release, even in leaked form, unredacted documents, especially to someone with such dissemination power as Drudge? And is it safe to rule out someone inside TNR being the source of the leak? (I thought documents obtained through the FOIA also are routinely redacted.) And how about Beauchamp? Is it pretty likely he'd have an unredacted copy?