Richard Tafoya
Apr 17th, 2009, 06:37 PM
TPM:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/sergeant_who_smeared_fellow_soldier_new_republic_w.php?ref=f pjr2
A senior enlisted U.S. Army soldier--Master Sergeant John Hatley--was convicted (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/world/middleeast/16sergeant.html?_r=1) two days ago by a military jury in Germany of executing four handcuffed, blindfolded Iraqi men by shooting them in the backs of their heads.
Many readers will recall the case (http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=860c9bec-a77a-4786-a869-cc893a43c8b2) of Scott Beauchamp--the Army Private who took his story of out-of-control soldiers in the line of duty to the pages of The New Republic and soon thereafter found himself on the receiving end of attacks from conservatives across the establishment and beyond.
Some of those conservatives, including the Weekly Standard's Michael Goldfarb, participated in a concerted (and inaccurate) effort (http://www.cjr.org/politics/krauthammer_goldfarb_and_emanu.php) to discredit Beauchamp and tar, for lack of patriotism, the notoriously dovish New Republic and, by association, liberals everywhere.
For his reporting, Goldfarb relied on some...let's call them 'questionable (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/the-weekly-standard_b_58977.html)' sources and even got an assist, in a bizarre breach of protocol, from Beauchamp's First Sergeant, who took to the blogosphere (http://www.moonofalabama.org/2008/08/first-sgt-hatle.html) to make the case against the beleaguered Private. "My soldiers [sic] conduct is consistently honorable."
The name of that Non-Commissioned Officer might ring a bell: John Hatley. And he seems to have protested a bit too much. Hatley had, in fact, committed the murders before he took to the Internet to defend himself and his fellow soldiers against charges of recklessness. We excitedly await Goldfarb's statement on the issue.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/sergeant_who_smeared_fellow_soldier_new_republic_w.php?ref=f pjr2
A senior enlisted U.S. Army soldier--Master Sergeant John Hatley--was convicted (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/world/middleeast/16sergeant.html?_r=1) two days ago by a military jury in Germany of executing four handcuffed, blindfolded Iraqi men by shooting them in the backs of their heads.
Many readers will recall the case (http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=860c9bec-a77a-4786-a869-cc893a43c8b2) of Scott Beauchamp--the Army Private who took his story of out-of-control soldiers in the line of duty to the pages of The New Republic and soon thereafter found himself on the receiving end of attacks from conservatives across the establishment and beyond.
Some of those conservatives, including the Weekly Standard's Michael Goldfarb, participated in a concerted (and inaccurate) effort (http://www.cjr.org/politics/krauthammer_goldfarb_and_emanu.php) to discredit Beauchamp and tar, for lack of patriotism, the notoriously dovish New Republic and, by association, liberals everywhere.
For his reporting, Goldfarb relied on some...let's call them 'questionable (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/the-weekly-standard_b_58977.html)' sources and even got an assist, in a bizarre breach of protocol, from Beauchamp's First Sergeant, who took to the blogosphere (http://www.moonofalabama.org/2008/08/first-sgt-hatle.html) to make the case against the beleaguered Private. "My soldiers [sic] conduct is consistently honorable."
The name of that Non-Commissioned Officer might ring a bell: John Hatley. And he seems to have protested a bit too much. Hatley had, in fact, committed the murders before he took to the Internet to defend himself and his fellow soldiers against charges of recklessness. We excitedly await Goldfarb's statement on the issue.