The New Republic has been publishing stories written by someone who goes by the pen name of Scott Thomas.

Evidently the Weekly Standard read these posts and questioned them. They went to the base where this writer is supposed to be stationed and started checking.

The claims made by this phantom poster are pretty hard to believe, such as a soldier wearing the remains of a child’s skull under his helmet. That one would tip me off immediately.

Here’s what the New Republic has to say now:

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.

“Now that these questions have been raised, we’ve launched an inquiry. We’re putting the full resources of the magazine to look into the story,” Mr. Foer said. “It’s taking me a little bit longer than I wish it did. The author, not to mention some of the participants in the anecdotes he described, are active duty soldiers and they’re on 20-hour active combat missions sometimes, and it’s very difficult for me to get them all on the phone to ask them the questions that I’d like to ask.”

I’m not a journalist, but it seems to me before they run stories they should check the veracity of them first and not after the damage has been done.

This is like the AP reporter who never existed except in someone’s mind. I forget the name, but I’m sure someone will help me out in the comments.