Comments on: Michael Yon: The TNR troop story “sounds like complete garbage”

By: Will the Blogosphere Defend Our Military the Same Way it Defended Our Borders? » Blue Star Chronicles

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:18:16 +0000

[...] the real identity of ‘Scott Thomas’), Michelle Malkin, Villainous Company, Powerline, Hot Air, A Blog for All, Cao’s Blog, Wake Up America, Right Wing Nuthouse, Op-For, Confederate [...]

By: Blue Star Chronicles

Blue Star Chronicles — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 02:03:06 +0000

Will the Blogosphere Defend Our Military the Same…

I ask this question in all sincerity. I believe the blogosphere was the driving force behind the defeat of the bill that would have given amnesty for illegal aliens. It could do the same for our Fighting Forces.

Our Vietnam Veterans came home to c…..

By: Cao's Blog

Cao's Blog — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 22:41:34 +0000

The New Republic’s Scott Thomas: fake but accurate…

The blogosphere is all in a tizzy about the series of essays at the New Republic written by the pseudononymous “Scott Thomas”.

Who is TNR’s mysterious author ‘Scott Thomas’? – Ray Robison, American Thinker
Robison pieces …

By: gonavy

gonavy — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 13:54:39 +0000

Disfigured woman: check
Dead children: check
Dog, man’s best friend: check

“Scott Thomas” left out beating up the elderly. Oh and rape, someone over there must be getting raped daily by our military and I’m sure Scott Thomas was there for all of it. Those incidents must be coming in the next installment which I await with breathless anticipation.

By: Michelle Malkin » “Scott Thomas:” The new Winter Soldier?

Michelle Malkin » “Scott Thomas:” The new Winter Soldier? — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:38:21 +0000

[...] Hot Air coverage here and here. [...]

By: MrC_5150

MrC_5150 — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:10:04 +0000

The worst I've seen of US troops driving around in Iraq is this: GOT WATER? Poor kid.

By: Professor Blather

Professor Blather — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 13:33:49 +0000

This is literally the fake-but-accurate phenomenon all over again.

These stories fit the liberal elite meta-narrative. They mesh perfectly with liberals ill-informed (okay, uninformed) perspective on the military in general and Iraq in particular.

It’s the Duke rape case. It just plain fits with what liberals already (completely wrongly) believe.

That’s why it isn’t sourced, that’s why it isn’t fact-checked, and that’s why we’re reading it and now talking about it.

Because it just fits.

Who cares if its true? Because in the grand scheme of things, it already *is* true. Symbolically. Metaphorically.

You people really need to see the big picture.

By: dhimwit

dhimwit — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 13:30:54 +0000

For argument’s sake, say these stories are true. OK, so what?

Cruel remarks, clowning around with the remains of dead people, running over dogs (aren’t they “unclean”?) don’t qualify as atrocities.

Maybe petty uglinesses like these are how you stay sane in combat.

But until forced to change it, my default belief on anything the MSM says is, “Oh BS”.

By: BohicaTwentyTwo

BohicaTwentyTwo — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:29:38 +0000

I’d like to take issue with the grave story too.

We spent a few weeks constructing a combat outpost, and, in the process, we did a lot of digging.

Really, a lot of digging? What exactly were you digging? Latrines? Foxholes? Trenches? Doesn’t this all seem a little too much Vietnamesque. Most Combat Outposts consist of and existing building, protected by wire, Texas or Jersey barriers and Hesco concertainers. There’s really not much digging required. Latrines, well if you can’t get a sewage truck, then you might have to do some digging, but still. This all sounds like someone who watched Platoon too many times.

By: profitsbeard

profitsbeard — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 06:10:19 +0000

armylawyer-

...frog-mounted lasers on unsuspecting puppies...

Damnit! How can I not believe you! Every element of your story is true. There are lasers, and frogs, and puppies. (If you had only added that the amphibians were tattooed with the word Halliburton on their dorsal pads, it would have had the ring of total verisimilitude.)

By: urbancenturion

urbancenturion — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 04:14:35 +0000

I found it interesting that someone on the other post cited Jarhead (which I did not see). When I was reading the alleged accounts, I got the impression that someone was auditioning for a job as a writer for a Hollywood movie production studio. These are exactly the types of stories you see in movies/shows in which some leftist writer sets up a broader story line in which soldiers are the “bad guys” to be fought and defeated by the “heroic”, “green”, “enlightened”, etc. protagonist, and in which no semblance of fact/reason/sense is even in evidence.

By: serenity

serenity — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 03:29:49 +0000

Wretched block quote thingy.

By: serenity

serenity — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 03:29:14 +0000

Today in Iraq, we tested frog-mounted laserbeams on unsuspecting puppies.

God’s Honest Truth.*

armylawyer on July 19, 2007 at 10:55 PM

I thought the French were no longer deployed in Iraq…

By: F15Mech

F15Mech — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 03:00:16 +0000

Today in Iraq, we tested frog-mounted laserbeams on unsuspecting puppies.

God’s Honest Truth.*

armylawyer on July 19, 2007 at 10:55 PM

As long as frogs were ill tempered I am OK with it.

By: armylawyer

armylawyer — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 02:55:11 +0000

Today in Iraq, we tested frog-mounted laserbeams on unsuspecting puppies.

God’s Honest Truth.*

By: common sensineer

common sensineer — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 02:48:54 +0000

Yeah, the BS meter is pegged on these “true confessions from a real soldier” stories.

I know I should expect nothing else from TNR, but common sense should tell the editors to corroborate such unbelievably sensational accounts.

God bless our troops!

By: Claimsratt

Claimsratt — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 02:36:01 +0000

Funny, I spent a year in Iraq and never encountered anything like this. I saw some of our troops giving shoes to shoeless Iraqi children. On one mission we were waiting for our turn to cross the Tigris River, when one of the girls in our platoon made friends with an Iraqi family.

It seems that since Vietnam there are more and more stories of atrosities, but no proof. I think I will stay with the WorldWeeklyNews. At least it does not pretend to report the truth.

By: F15Mech

F15Mech — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:43:58 +0000

I can’t tell the MSM

should be

I can tell the MSM

By: F15Mech

F15Mech — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:34:58 +0000

Freelancer on July 19, 2007 at 9:06 PM

Exactly what you said.

I can’t tell the MSM many stories about how our pilots deliberately killed birds, and how they aimed fighters for them.

/sarcasm

I can’t speak about BFV’s,

Chow halls I do know.

The “camel fly-by” was hilarious

By: doriangrey

doriangrey — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:30:13 +0000

Some how I just doubt that Scott Thomas actually exists any more than Iraqi Police Capt. Jamil Hussein did, in fact they are probably the exact same person.

By: naliaka

naliaka — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:26:46 +0000

I mentioned this in the old thread – there’s a theme that these stories (as in fiction) fit.
Murtha going on and on about how stressed out the Marines are so they’re breaking and committing atrocities.
AP, NYT, LAT regular articles – at least twice a week in some form or another: The troops going on longer tours, or more and more frequent deplyments – again the suggestion of the breaking, over tasked soldier.
These stories reek of Apocalypse Now – that phony twisting of Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” which dealt with the out of control Belgium’s brutal occupation of the Belgium Congo where real Belgium government agents ran their own little fiefdoms – thanks to King Leopold’s desire to make himself an Emperor of more than just wee Belgium.
The crime Hollywood did was to offer a parallel between Belgians under a monoarchy with Amerian soldiers from a democracy. It was false then and remains false, but these newly offered stories feed right into the stressed-out run -amok soldier that is more a fixture of Hollywood dark fantasies than real life.

By: corbettw

corbettw — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:11:16 +0000

Sounds like The New Republic rehired Stephen Glass.

By: Zorro

Zorro — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:11:02 +0000

I would believe the word of Blackfive, Michael Yon and Allah everyday of the week before I would even consider reading the left wing “I hate American” old media… In the case of TNR, Haditha didn’t pan out so they decide to make something else up out of thin air. TNR = low rent traitors.

By: Freelancer

Freelancer — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:06:21 +0000

What’s interesting is that he takes issue with the incident in the mess hall whereas most are scoffing at the story about the Bradley and the dog.

I don’t think that’s accurate, AP. Those who spent the most time about the BFV/dog story were folks with experience around such vehicles who could say for certain that it was unrealistic and implausible, so they provided significant detail. There were a greater number of responses about the dining facility story, though with less concrete details. Still, none of the three passes the smell test for validity.

By: CommentGuy

CommentGuy — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 00:12:43 +0000

To give a personal example during Viet Nam, I was rotated back to stateside and was taking time visiting an off base watering hole and during the thread of conversation one night due to having crossed the line of having to many adult beverages, I said something that did not convey my real intent and the poor formed words out of my mouth resulted in an instant reaction that had me getting hit so hard and so fast that I couldn’t get to the floor fast enough.

It was a slip on my part and I agree with the fact that I spoke wrong from what I intended to say and understand in review why it caused the reaction.

So that is why I question the story line presented in the original piece that is generating this whole flap.