Thursday, October 25, 2007

Beauchamp vindicated by his commander

By Libby
Updated below and again

I saw the latest fringe-wing, Drudge inspired, hate mob assembling and I wasn't going to talk about it. I've made my views on the morally bereft motives of the wingnuttians clear enough during the last umpteen weeks that the swarm has gleefully piled on to an active duty soldier who is fighting a war they're too cowardly to do anything but pay lip service to.

But, via, I just came across this Michael Yon post that puts it so into perspective, it's worth noting. Yon accidentally met young Beauchamp's commander, who defends the soldier's honor.
Beauchamp is young; under pressure he made a dumb mistake. In fact, he has not always been an ideal soldier. But to his credit, the young soldier decided to stay, and he is serving tonight in a dangerous part of Baghdad. He might well be seriously injured or killed here, and he knows it. He could have quit, but he did not. He faced his peers. I can only imagine the cold shoulders, and worse, he must have gotten. He could have left the unit, but LTC Glaze told me that Beauchamp wanted to stay and make it right. Whatever price he has to pay, he is paying it.

I have to say I find the Capt's response less than insightful.
LTC Glaze wants to keep Beauchamp, and hopes folks will let it rest. I’m with LTC Glaze on this: it’s time to let Beauchamp get back to the war. The young soldier learned his lessons. He paid enough to earn his second chance that he must know he will never get a third.

What f*ucking arrogance. Beauchamp has learned his lesson? Who the hell appointed the Holier than Thou Hate Corps to teach him one? They like to pretend this was all about accountability and TNR. I call bullshit on that. Go back and read the posts. TNR is mentioned as an afterthought. They all mercilessly pummel a fighting grunt, dissecting his life down to the atom, judging his motives and his fitness to serve and pretend it's for some higher cause than pure ego-driven bullying -- making themselves feel important by driving their pet meme into the news cycle.

There's a lesson to be learned here alright but it's for the armchair warriors who think they had any right to judge Beauchamp in the first place. The humiliation belongs to those who mercilessly attacked an active duty soldier for telling a war story -- and it makes no difference whether it was true or not. Even if he made the whole thing up, he earned that right by being there and fighting for his country.

Scott Beauchamp has more patriotism in his little finger than the entirety of the Hate Mob does in their collective, ego bloated behinds. The shame belongs to the hateful horde who singlemindedly made that whole battalion's life a living hell for months now. It's about time they owned it.

Yon has asked them to lay off, so maybe they will now, if they want to prove they aren't just a pack of hateful egoists, every one of those 'citizen journalists' who spewed their limitless venom to ruin Beauchamp's life and poison his reputation should be issuing an apology to him today. I don't suggest however, you hold your breath waiting.

Update: I realize this post is pretty vitriolic itself and to be fair Capt Ed has been one of the more reasonable voices in the swarm, but the idea that anyone has the right to "teach Beauchamp a lesson" is just simply galling and I'm not taking it back. I would however point you to much more temperate post by Glenn Greenwald who notes the disturbing politicalization going on within our military press corps.

Update two: Jon Swift all but weighs in with a brilliant post.

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