Little long but read the whole thing.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/post/PLNK1A3L4YEO74C19

Teaser:

My agent always urges me to provide a sound bite version of any idea I put out in public. I don’t actually think there are very many interesting ideas that fit into sound bites, but here’s the short version for those of you without much in the way of attention spans, followed by an explanation laying it out in some detail (and including some of that scary semiotic stuff I do for business and industry, along with a bit about writing and publishing these days):

Based on a mix of semiotic analysis and my seat of the pants experience as a frequent reader of professional and near-professional writing by new writers, my guess is this: I think “Scott Thomas” is actually an MFA writing student, or a recent graduate of such a program, probably with some military experience

But, I still think that if Scott Thomas were a con artist, it’s more likely that he’d succeed in gulling TNR if he could write enough like an ivory tower or NPR type than if he were a volunteer enlistee taking a break from dodging EFPs or whatever. The guild of PC writing is self-recognizing, and it would be a rare soldier who could emulate it enough to gain the editors trust. Unless, of course, TNR were so hungry for those bits of ‘news’ that they’d publish without checking.

You misinterpreted my comment, but after rereading it, I can see why.

Let me clarify. I didn’t mean the “it would take a military man” as a dig. I meant it literally. Only someone with first hand experience could know how to get all the details wrong–on purpose. If I’m right, and I admit that I’m speculating–wildly or not–then the soldier author is hoaxing TNR big time. Why? More speculation. I know that quite a few of our troops are upset about the MSM. Is this pay back? Far fetched, I suppose.

Any how, if Scott really is serving in Iraq, you’ve got to wonder about his motives. No matter what his personal politics, he’d have to know that he was making stuff up. He’d also have to know that he’d get found out. I’m ust wondering what his game plan was, that’s all.

I’d never deliberately insult our troops, and you can take that to the bank.

Not even the misleading “domestic surveillance” stories had the kind of impact the torture stories had.

So what do you do when soldiers ain’t misbehaving?

You dust off a Full Metal Jacket rip-off. The kind we quote in our sleep.

I actually paid for TNR for over thirty years, canceled less than a year after AS became editor.

Despite all the rumors re TNR’s founding, I thought they did good work for the most part. A bias, but an acknowledged one. I can live with that.

Marty is conflicted, I think. Readership (which has steadily fallen) indicates a base problem.

The TNR of 1914 would have done better I think. Truth gains readers, manipulation of same loses readers. Simple.

Wildly creative theory, ‘Old Dad’, but a malicious lefty aiming to manipulate public opinion by corrosive mendacity is a hell of a lot more likely suspect. And, by the way, your insult against military men is duly noted – are you Scott Thomas himself playing sock puppet?

TNR would pride itself on detecting a setup and escaping it. That’s what intellectual magazines supposedly do – they’re the smart guys. Unless Foer is willing to risk his and the magazine’s entire credibility in order to score one last desperate point against the military before it achieves any further successes. We KNOW the true believers in the TNR readership will hang on every word, but its whole masthead is now tottering for a fall in the world of factual news.

“Mitchell says he may decide to republish the piece on his blog, but is weighing the effect of all the negative attention on his wife, who works on a military base, and their young daughter.