The New Republic's Correspondent a Fake?

Posted By Blackfive

A mission from the Weekly Standard - or more accurately, this is a "Bust Their Chops" opportunity to debunk some letters that are just too much "exactly what the left wing wants to hear" for me to take at face value. If you can help, email the Weekly Standard. Or, if you'd feel more comfortable contacting me, I'm at blackfive - AT - gmail - DOT- com.

Fact or Fiction?

A mission for milbloggers:

The New Republic runs a piece in this week's issue titled "Shock Troops" (sub. req.) and authored by Scott Thomas--described by the magazine as a "pseudonym for a soldier currently serving in Baghdad." "Thomas" is the author of two previous dispatches from Iraq for the New Republic, both of which recount deeply disturbing anecdotes (in one, an Iraqi boy who calls himself James Bond has his tongue cut out for talking to Americans; in the other, dogs feast on a corpse in the street). His latest piece is even more disturbing. It recounts several instances of gross misconduct by the men in his unit, some of which are, to echo the title of his piece, deeply shocking--If they are true--a big if, according to several people with experience in Iraq. One described it to me as sounding like a "pastiche of the 'This is no bullshit . . . stories soldiers like to tell."

The first episode puts "Thomas"'s unit at a "chow hall" at an unnamed base. A woman eating there is wearing "an unrecognizable tan uniform, so I couldn’t really tell whether she was a soldier or a civilian contractor." The woman's face is described as having been "more or less melted, along with all the hair on that side of her head," by an IED. She sits down for lunch next to the men. Here's how "Thomas" describes what happens next:

We were already halfway through our meals when she arrived. After a minute or two of eating in silence, one of my friends stabbed his spoon violently into his pile of mashed potatoes and left it there.
“Man, I can’t eat like this,” he said.
“Like what?” I said. “Chow hall food getting to you?”
“No—with that fucking freak behind us!” he exclaimed, loud enough for not only her to hear us, but everyone at the surrounding tables. I looked over at the woman, and she was intently staring into each forkful of food before it entered her half-melted mouth.
“Are you kidding? I think she’s fucking hot!” I blurted out.
“What?” said my friend, half-smiling.
“Yeah man,” I continued. “I love chicks that have been intimate—with IEDs. It really turns me on—melted skin, missing limbs, plastic noses . . . .”
“You’re crazy, man!” my friend said, doubling over with laughter. I took it as my cue to continue.
“In fact, I was thinking of getting some girls together and doing a photo shoot. Maybe for a calendar? ‘IED Babes.’ We could have them pose in thongs and bikinis on top of the hoods of their blown-up vehicles.”
My friend was practically falling out of his chair laughing. The disfigured woman slammed her cup down and ran out of the chow hall, her half-finished tray of food nearly falling to the ground.

Is it possible that American soldiers would be so sadistic when confronted by a badly burned woman, who may be a fellow soldier? Well, yes: Anything is possible when it comes to human depravity. But consider: these are enlisted men who, by the author's own account, don't know who this woman is or what rank she might hold. (Incidentally, wouldn't soldiers be able to distinguish a soldier from a contractor--especially if she is a regular at the chow hall?) Would they really ridicule her with raised voices in a public place, on "one especially crowded day"?...

There's a lot more - both quotes and questions - at the Weekly Standard.

Update July 18:  A trusted source says that the FOB in question, FOB Falcon, was turned over to the IA/IP a year or two ago.  (Incorrect info.  There is a IA battalion but the rest of the FOB is USA.  Updated from a source on Falcon, see below.)

Another states that the driver in the article would have been beaten by his own troops for putting them in danger of IEDs.

Another from an Infantry Sergeant: 

I just read this story, Major, and it's bullshit, sir. Nobody that would have been melted by and IED would be alive. No way. I've SEEN IED victums, remember, [redacted] was killed by an IED, face blown off and feet gone. [redacted] did not live. If need be I can provide more than one witness to the event. I know of two Soldiers that were burned to death by propane IEDs , [redacted] and [redacted], both died a horrible death. This story is bullshit at the least and the worst fiction at the best.

Update 0h-Dark-30 July 19: An Army Officer on Falcon emails this note:

Sir,
I am and have been an avid reader of your milblog for many years and wanted to answer your request for help with the entry about the TNR article 'Shock Troopers'.

I am one of the many thousand American soldiers at FOB Falcon.  We do have an IA Battalion here, but they are on a completely isolated portion of the camp.  I don't mean to contradict your trusted source about the ownership of this place, but I'm sitting in my barracks right now typing this email here on the FOB.  Without naming units or giving specific personnel counts, I can assure you this is definitely an American post.

In the 11 months I've been here I've never once seen a female contractor with a burned face.  In a compact place like this with only one mess hall I or one of my guys would certainly have noticed someone like that.  There are a few female contractors, I think maybe a dozen, but none fit the horrific description given in that article.  Further, I've personally seen guys threatened with severe physical harm for making jokes of any kind about IED victims given the number of casualties all the units on this FOB have sustained.  It is not a subject we take lightly.  Gallows humor jokes do get told, but extremely seldom and never about anyone they actually know or are in the presence of.

Given the friends in the S-2 shop of my battalion and how often I talk to them about what's going on in our AO and AI I can also tell you no reports whatsoever have been sent up - or down from MNCI - about a mass grave of any kind.  We find bodies all the time, sure, but graves?  None.

The part about running over the dog, in my opinion, is somewhat plausible, but I doubt the PL or CO of that individual would let them do it more than once if they valued the lives of their men at all.  The vehicles we drive are all top heavy and violent swerving to hit a dog is not advisable.

As for the human skull bit, I know that any NCO worth his salt, and most certainly a PSG or higher, would literally crush a Joe for taking his ACH helmet off in the middle of a mission only to put a portion of human skull on his head.

You've probably received multiple emails about all this already, but I just wanted to help crush the bullshit surrounding this story.  Thank you for your milblog and for all you do for us overseas.

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Some of you may be familiar with Scott Thomas and his New Republic dispatches. Thomas, who writes under a pseudonym, claims to be an American soldier serving near FOB Falcon near Baghdad. His writing -there have been a total of... [Read More]

Comments

[rgrmom82]

I hope that is a made up story. Unfortunately there is no human cruelty that suprises me. That twenty-something kids have learned no empathy doesn't suprise me either. Some people are just born without compassion and some never learned enough manners to just not say anything. It's about being young and immature and pathologically self centered.

I hope it's one of those urban legends things. Idiots.

[Uncle Jimbo]

I don't mean to argue with the infantry sergeant who doubted that some one could survive with a melted face.

I knew a hero named Tim Martin, who got his face melted at Desert One in Iran trying to rescue the hostages on Delta's first raid. It wasn't an IED but therer are many ways to be grievously hurt.

I pity the fool who would have mocked MSG Tim "Griz" yeah for grisly Martin, check the credits for Blackhawk Down if you are unfamiliar with him. The wounds described are possible as is the depravity to mock them. That doesn't mean this clown is telling the truth, just that he could be.

Cordially,

Uncle J

[jordan]

When it's just one anonymous source, known only to New Republic editors, who's to say if it's true, false, or "fake but accurate?"

They get to erode war support and smear the military, and no one can challenge it's veracity unless the author is outed.

Most people in Iraq call them DFACs, not chow halls. Also, with the endless hours in politically correct, gender sensitive, diversity training our soldiers are forced to endure, it's highly unlikely that such public behavior would be so blatant.

Would such a seriously wounded person be walking around a DFAC like a normal person? Extensive burns usually require extreme measures to guard against infection.

In the late '60's, I found in my Dad's briefcase a U.S./ROK propaganda book on the exploits of North Korean infiltrators, painting them as monsters. These excerpts sound just like that book.

I'd say New Republic's credibility is in question unless they're able to come up with more on the source.

[FMFDoc]

OK so anyone who has been to FOB Falcon know what the medical facility is like and why someone with severe facial burns wouldnt be evacuated?

This is really sad: without any corresponding evidence, one person with a "tell all" story can get a damaging article out on the strength that it is difficult to disprove.

[liontooth]

in one, an Iraqi boy who calls himself James Bond has his tongue cut out for talking to Americans;

Wouldn't 'a kid' with his tongue cut out have been reported already by someone? You'd either have this reported as proof of how barbaic al qaeda is or used by the other side as proof of American atrocities.

Or are tongueless iraq kids common nowadays?

[douglas]

So if you are seriously burned by an IED, which in an area as sensitive as the facial area, and as vascular as the head in general, you'd require prolonged care, multiple surgeries to repair damaged tissues and structures, as well as many more for skin grafts. Infection would be a long term concern as well. You're probably talking many months, likely a few years to deal with it. I seriously doubt someone who sustained those injuries would be back in Iraq, as military or contractor.

Here's some idea about the treatment of severe burns from "Burns and wound Management":

"The surgical treatment of head and neck burns is not a trivial exercise, even for experienced surgeons.45 Excision must be more extensive than elsewhere, to include all dermal elements, especially in hair-bearing areas. Frequently, transfusion of one unit of packed cells is required for each percent of body surface excised from the head.25 Even the most uniform sheet grafts of the face can develop severe hypertrophic burn scar, and wrinkling of neck grafts is a perplexing problem. The American Burn Association recommends that head and neck burns be treated by experienced burn surgeons willing to provide the years of postoperative treatment required for an optimal outcome.29"

You think someone who would be needing the services of experienced burn surgeons for YEARS of post-op treatment would go back to Iraq rather than seek treatment in the United States?

The thing that always puzzles me about the fakes (and this one has that fell about it) is that it's always these guys who were guilty of what they accuse others of, but for some mysterious reason are now telling people about it. Remember Jesse MacBeth?

[Grimmy]

If it is a bogus story, meaning... if the 'reporter' is called on it and can not back it up, the writer and editors should be standing in front of a federal judge.

Journalists (professional or amateur) that produce and publish untrue and/or unsubstantiated articles for the purpose of causing the civilian population to lose faith and/or confidence in our military should be punished to the fullest possible extent.

The worst thing the law can do is refuse to step up. That leaves the enraged mob as the final option to address such issues.

[liontooth]

Thanks Douglas for documenting what I thought about serious burn treatment and its recovery when I read this post. Not to mention that healthly skin enviornment of swirling sands, boiler room temperatures, and intense UV rays.

“No—with that fucking freak behind us!” he exclaimed, loud enough for not only her to hear us, but everyone at the surrounding tables.

Ok, seriously, 'Here's your sign' it's a fake. We're not talking about tables filled with girly men (Dodd, Reid, Durbin, Obama, Edwards, etc). This clown created this fiction from his own experience of being around the namby pamby knee knocking crowd.

We're talking about tables filled with REAL men. REAL men that would open up a can of whoop something or other after hearing that comment.

[Caper2]

I agree with Liontooth.

If the story had any validity (as a nurse, I can't see someone with such grievous injuries going back to Iraq)

Any idiots that uttered that kind of nonsense shit about a wounded sister-in-arms was setting themselves for a long walk from a short pier.

El Coqui

[Kat-Missouri/USA]

As a person with 20 years health care experience and a recent 1 year stint with a rehabilitation facility, this story is full of bull.

The real question, that didn't get asked by weekly standard, but is diligently noted in comments here, is how someone with that sort of extensive burns would be redeployed to any theater considering the necessary recovery and rehabilitation process.

So, either the story is completely bogus or the persons injuries were no where near as extensive as is being reported.

Beyond that, I can't say whether some 18 year old, sophmoric moron that just got over there would or would not say any such thing regarding this woman's condition. I do not have rose tinted glasses when it comes to the military. I have met plenty of young men and women just out of high school, wearing the uniform that hadn't yet left that immaturity behind. But, I will say that those that did exhibit that behavior were newly guilded, hadn't done jack, never been deployed boneheads who were too full of themselves to have enjoined the reality of war.

Veteran war fighters in Iraq? This never happened. Somebody would have told him to STFU.

Not to mention, this sounds like a really nice "in your face" piece of fictional writing. Nice technique, but contrived beyond all recognition.

[caelestis]

So yeah, as one of those contractors that goes to Iraq, many of us wear civilian clothes at all times, in fact many of us are not permitted to wear any kind of uniform due to that pesky little Geneva Convention category on the backside of our CAC ID............ any severly wounded person would be medevaced ASAP, a mass grave would fly up the chain as it is usually a PIR for gaining info on the locals and their state of mind, and any NCO worth his salt would report the gravesite........

I'm calling stupendous bullshit on this, and the New Republic just opened a can of whoop ass on themselves.......

[MaryAnn]

Let's say it's possible that there are people that could be so cruel to a comrade, or that this is gallows humor gone wild.

And let's say it's possible that someone hurt in 2004 could RTD in 2007. The specifics of the injury are not clearly stated. Alternately, this could be scarring from a pre-military accident, or even a birth defect.

Let's even say that not a single NCO or Officer would have overheard this and acted.

Given all that, then the end of the story is missing. Which is that a bunch of other soldiers - who actually have buddies who have been blown up during the course of a current or previous deployment - jump up and beat the crap out of these jerks.

I'm calling bull$hit on this one.

[jordan]

MaryAnn, I thought that also, but someone with this kind of deformity since childhood, or even pre-military, would be accustomed enough to stares, whispers and offensive behavior while in public that "dropping the tray and running out in hysterics" wouldn't be a likely response. If it had been a long-time injury, more than likely her response would have been the death laser stare or the old standby, "What's your problem?"

[FbL]

I had the same reaction as many here to the idea of making fun of the burned woman--that they would've gotten stomped for it had they done such a thing. Some young men can be incredibly cruel and heartless, especially when egged on by their peers. And I know people whose dark sense of humor would've led to such conversation in private (never in public or in front of the victim!). But to say that in her presence...? And to not get the you-know-what slapped/beat out of them by others present? I find that incredibly hard to believe.

[MaryAnn]

Good point, Jordan.

And to take that line of thinking even further - if she was tough enough to return to duty after being blown up, then she certainly wouldn't run off in hysterics because of a couple of dirtbags.

This whole thing just doesn't sound plausable for a whole host of reasons.

[Caper2]

And knowing some of the ladies that grace us with their service. She may had started the whupass herself.

Of course in that situation, a true gentleman will hold her tray.

Unless she needed it to make her point.
:)

El Coqui

[SFCMAC]

The New Republic's anti-military bias rears its ugly head...again. It's another Stephen Glass moment. They ought to be proud. Assholes.

[Jim]

Yeah, definately got to call BS on this one. It was either here or at the Weekly Standard that I read that this burn vicitim hasn't been seen on FOB Falcon in the last 14 months. This information comes from two different sources with the 14 months combined between the two. The Weekly Standard also has a couple of former (?) bradley drivers that have called BS on the dog story. Furthermore, I cannot imagine one of our guys using the skull of a CHILD as a skull cap. I mean c'mon, I know that people can be aholes sometimes, but to desecrate the body of a child? Our guys WOULD NOT do that.

Jim C

[redc1c4]

as a former track toad, the Bradley part is purest BS.

you can't see schise on the right hand side of a 113, let alone an M2/3.
there's no way you'd know where the dog was, and i find it hard to believe that even the wildest dog would get that close to a moving track. they make way too much noise for that to seem plauseable.

lastly, no track driver wants to make jerky movements, as that's a great way to bust a pin or toss the track. doing either one is a guarenteed way of giving yourself hours of back breaking w*rk getting it back together so you can move.

somehow i can't see that being a good idea in a combat zone. even if the driver thought it was kewl, i think the rest of the crew would make the on the spot correction the first time he tried it, making that the last time he tried it.

redc1c4,
can we get a bigger BS flag to hang on this? %-)

[SoldierNoLongerInIraq]

Actually, I knew a Brad that got hit with an IED w/propane kicker. Burned them up. They slowly died for the next six months, and we'd get updates. Now this guy died. Now that guy died.

Gruesome.

When I was augmented out to the MTT, the IAs would test their weapons by shooting dogs near this junkyard at the back of their ASP. They didn't much care for dogs, calling them "dirty," which actually follows strict Islamic belief about the utility of dogs.

The person in question might have been a 'terp, might have been a contractor who had the disfigurement before she took the job.

The author never says if it's a servicewoman or not.

If we were honest with ourselves, we would say that all of us who spent a lot of time outside the wire saw things -- including things we did -- that we wouldn't be proud of.

I know an officer who let guys bludgeon a detainee unconscious with kevlars. He even filmed it.

I knew snipers who seemed to kill more innocent people by accident than enemies on purpose.

It doesn't mean they were war criminals or anything like that.

The young LT was clearly out of his league and lost his composure when he should've been intervening. He froze.

The snipers thought they had a good kill, but it wasn't. Fog of war.

I don't understand why keeping it quiet is somehow right, or that having honest discussions with civilians about how there's oftentimes a lot of gray between all the black and white on a battlefield.

I don't know if the TNR guy is lying or not. But I sure could tell some stories that show men under great stress do things that probably wouldn't look good in print.

And maybe that's why we react the way we do to this piece. It needs more context. Civilian readers need to understand why men were acting like this.

C

[Ymarsakar]

I think there are two categories, primarily for this type of stuff.

True stories designed to psychologically damage Americans. False stories designed to psychologically damage Americans.

[Cassandra]

What is so odd about this, and so unbelievable, is not so much that people will do evil things.

Or even that they will do evil or depraved things in wartime.

We know that, because we know human nature.

What seems "off" about this particular gentleman is that somehow, he seems to have witnessed an unusually large number of "atrocities". So many, in fact, that if they were all true, they would have to be commonplace, everyday occurrences.

The inference is that somehow, this stuff is going on every day over there and that 150,00 men and women are silently watching it happen and only Scott Thomas has the stones to bravely tell us the truth.

Yeah. Whatever.

Just like John Foregainst Kerry, who in 1971 told us his comrades raped everything in sight including dogs and then just a few days ago bravely told us the "truth" that "fears of massive bloodshed" after the fall of Saigon "never materialized".

Ummm...yeah. I suppose 2 million dead in Cambodia barely registers as "massive bloodshed when you skipped out of your one year combat tour to blacken the reputations of your comrades in arms.

And I suppose 165,000 dead in Vietnamese reeducation camps is danged "prosperous" when you get right down to it.

As Walter Duranty of the NY Times once said, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few million eggs.

[TheNewGuy]

This doesn't smell right.

As a former military doc, I can state unequivocally that although medical groups aren't necessarily known for being hard-assed individuals, there'd be damned few docs who'd hesitate for even one second to verbally eviscerate any soldier/sailor/airman/marine who made fun of a battle-damaged comrade. Such behavior isn't tolerated, not even by line units (because the smart-ass who opened his soon-to-be-bleeding piehole might be the next IED victim). I'm calling BS on that part of it.

As for the rest, I've never driven a bradley, so I can comment on that, or the mass-grave.

[Capitalist Infidel]

Is anyone surprised that leftists are smearing our troops? The soldier is everything a leftist isn't. Strong, committed, moral, honorable, etc...They must tear down those who are far superior to them. That is the only way they can feel good about themselves.

[passinginterest]

"this is a "Bust Their Chops" opportunity to debunk some letters that are just too much "exactly what the left wing wants to hear" for me to take at face value."

Give your fellow citizens some credit. You don't have to be left or right wing to find those descriptions deplorable, and I for one hope that this guy is debunked. Most servicemen and women I've met are fine individuals and I seriously doubt that the incidents this guy recounts could have happened. I welcome any debunking efforts by those who have real knowledge of the situations.

These sorts of propaganda pieces aren't aimed at "the leftists" since they already want the troops out. They are aimed at the right-wingers still on the fence. It wasn't until after My Lai that anti-Vietnam sentiment was widespread enough for the US to leave under "non-victorious" circumstances. That's the sort of anti-Iraq sentiment this type of "reporting" is meant to engender. Remember, Abu Ghraib already stirred up plenty of bad feeling, and that was documented with photos. Nobody doubts that bad stuff happens, innocent people die, etc. But any truth-loving American, right OR left wants to hear the real story, whether it be as ugly as Abu Ghraib or debunking wild stories told by a GI with an agenda.

[john Ryan]

This whole flap reminds me of the uproar over the "six burning Sunnis" story from 7 months ago. Whether or not it is true makes little difference to me, any person who believes all that it is written about Iraq is a fool as far as I am concerned. That applies equally to the statements coming from BOTH sides of the political spectrum.

[Neo]

German soldiers have caused international outrage after posing with a human skull in Afghanistan.
..
The publication of the photos caused a storm of protest, overtheshadowing the announcement that more German peacekeepers will serve across the world, after years of Berlin taking a cautious military role.

This The New Republic story sounds like a montage of sorts, combining multiple stories.

[Ymarsakar]

This whole flap reminds me of the uproar over the "six burning Sunnis" story from 7 months ago. Whether or not it is true makes little difference to me, any person who believes all that it is written about Iraq is a fool as far as I am concerned. That applies equally to the statements coming from BOTH sides of the political spectrum.

Posted by: john Ryan | July 20, 2007 at 06:34 PM

You actually believe that the right backed the burning Sunnis thing, rather than both of them being examples why folks like you are easily brainwashed and mislead.

[Ymarsakar]

Whether or not it is true makes little difference to me

Apathy is one of the best traits to have in a subject for propaganda purposes.

Those that don't care about the truth are the ones most easily dominated by such examples of Information Warfare as shown in the Original Post.