THE VIEW FROM FRANKLIN'S WINDOW:

Baghdad Diarist Was On Guard When Questioned by Editors (Howard Kurtz, 10/25/07, Washington Post)

Beauchamp stood his ground even after Editor Franklin Foer told him "that if you're not able to talk about this and able to stand by your story, I'm not sure we'll be able to stand by it. . . . You wouldn't have much credibility left in the public eye. . . . You basically made a vow to us that what you were publishing was the truth." Foer added that Beauchamp's wife, Elspeth Reeve, then a New Republic reporter, had said "that it's the most important thing in the world for her that you say that you didn't recant."

Beauchamp replied that she was a journalist and he was a soldier.

Despite the contentious conversation, Foer continued to defend the article days later. He did so again yesterday, reiterating that other soldiers whom the magazine would not identify had confirmed the allegations.

Hard to conclude other than that Mr. Foer needs the stories about soldiers' behavior to be right for his own emotional or ideological reasons.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 25, 2007 2:51 PM