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Bahgdad Diarist Legit: As reported in this space last week, a rapid-fire media controversy was brewing in blogistan over The New Republic’s “Baghdad Diarist.” A lot of people disputed the claims of the writer, which included playing with a skull and the mockery of a disfigured woman by soldiers. Well, the New Republic went into immediate damage control mode and investigated the complaints, with the Washington Post reporting their final verdict:

The New Republic said yesterday that it has corroborated each of the allegations in an essay written by an American soldier in Iraq by checking with other members of the man's unit.

With the exception of one "significant discrepancy," for which the magazine expressed regret, the New Republic is standing behind the account of Scott Thomas Beauchamp, an Army private whose reports of petty cruelty were aggressively challenged by conservative bloggers.

Reporting from the other side of the planet in a war zone is difficult enough. Trying to do so anonymously leaves a publication vulnerable to such charges.

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