The New Republic Tries to Come Clean on Beauchamp Scandal
This one caught my eye:
“Foer continues to ignore the words of Major Renee D. Russo, the Kuwait-based officer who told TNR senior editor Jason Zengerle that the burned woman story was an urban myth or legend in early August.”
It immediately reminded me of the fantasist John F. Kerry. In Tour of Duty, he related (through Douglas Brinkley) an account of having seen dead bodies floating in the creek that separates Subic Bay Naval Station from the town of Olongapo. Every Navy man who has ever been to Subic has heard that story, and it is often retold in the officers’ club to credulous first-timers, ultimately punctuated by laughter. As far as I know, Kerry is the only man in history who ever repeated the myth as if it were his own personal experience. John Kerry, meet Scott Thomas Beauchamp.
