i don't know if beauchamp's personal stories are true

i tend to think many are. and, i DO believe things he describes DO happen in iraq (and elsewhere for that matter). americans are not above heinous acts.

you take a bunch of scared kids (mostly male), put them in very dangerous situations, where they don't know friend from foe and what do you get? hint: it's not pretty
(i do NOT believe most military people commit horrid acts. just a few. i believe they have always existed and always WILL exist. i think in years past they were more easily routed/rooted out and gotten rid of. not so much these days. the branches of the service keep some folks that really should be gotten rid of)

Army Concludes Baghdad Diarist Accounts Untrue


By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Army investigators have concluded that the private whose dispatches for the New Republic accused his fellow soldiers of petty cruelties in Iraq was not telling the truth.
The finding, disclosed yesterday, came days after the Washington-based magazine announced that it had corroborated the claims of the private, Scott Thomas Beauchamp, except for one significant error.
"An investigation has been completed and the allegations made by Pvt. Beauchamp were found to be false," an Army statement said. "His platoon and company were interviewed and no one could substantiate the claims."
But New Republic Editor Franklin Foer is standing his ground. "We've talked to military personnel directly involved in the events that Scott Thomas Beauchamp described, and they corroborated his account," Foer said. The magazine granted anonymity to the other soldiers it cited...............