After reading the transcript of the phone calls with Beauchamp, I have changed my attitude toward him. What I read was not the words of a kid trying to escape responsibility. What I read was the words of a soldier who has screwed up and hurt his comrades. He knows his mistakes and he has now taken his punishment and is now determined to be a soldier first.

It appears that TNR wants to escape responsibility by blaming Beauchamp instead of themselves. In order to accomplish this, they are trying to get him to do a Chinese self-criticism by threatening his wife.

Beauchamp may come out of this a man. He has now been through a hellish punishment from his fellows. He may have experienced a nervous breakdown. But instead of agreeing to a dishonorable discharge, he has become a soldier. He is fighting the terrorists in the most dangerous place in the world and he is fighting with honor.

He deserves the honor of being an American Soldier. He also deserves the defense that we give other soldiers. We should tell TNR to lay off of him. Their publication of smears is their fault, not Beauchamp’s.