NY Times Confirms Scott Thomas...Kinda

UPDATED BELOW

The questions surrounding the accuracy of The New Republic's latest "imbed" reporter, Scott Thomas, has generated the first major mainstream (I hate that word) news report. (see earlier post, "The Blogging Buzz")

NY Times: Doubts Raised on Magazine’s ‘Baghdad Diarist’

Just who is the “Baghdad Diarist”?

It is a question that many people are asking The New Republic, the Washington political magazine that has been running articles attributed to an American soldier in Baghdad.

The author, who used the pen name Scott Thomas, has written three articles for the magazine since February, describing gruesome incidents in Iraq.

Franklin Foer, the editor of The New Republic, will not reveal the author’s identity but says the magazine is investigating the accuracy of his articles. In the late 1990s, under different editors, the magazine fired an associate editor, Stephen Glass, for fabrications.

The diaries have described some shocking incidents of military life, including soldiers openly mocking a disfigured woman on their base and a private wearing a found piece of a child’s skull under his helmet.

The magazine granted anonymity to the writer to keep him from being punished by his military superiors and to allow him to write candidly, Mr. Foer said. He said that he had met the writer and that he knows with “near certainty” that he is, in fact, a soldier.

Near certainty. Sorta like "kind of pregnant"...

It reminds me of the most recent "The Next Food Network Star" which just completed their contest to see who gets a show of their own on the cable TV station. If you haven't watched, one of the contestants - Josh Garcia - lied about his military and culinary background and was eliminated just before the final vote was to take place.

See Army Times: Food Network contestant cooked up details about Marine service

Maybe Scott Thomas IS a soldier...but he's just lying about many things in the hopes of getting noticed. Wouldn't surprise me.

UPDATE

The NY Times has issued a correction on the earlier news story. The last paragraph highlighted above now reads:

The magazine granted anonymity to the writer to keep him from being punished by his military superiors and to allow him to write candidly, Mr. Foer said. He said that he had met the writer and that he knows that he is, in fact, a soldier.

Changed from "near certainty"...I guess the investigation is proceeding at a snails pace.

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