Unbelievable. July 24, 2007 Doubts Raised on Magazineâs âBaghdad Diaristâ By LOUISE STORY Just who is the âBaghdad Diaristâ? 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. Last week, The Weekly Standard questioned the veracity of the New Republic articles and invited readers with knowledge about the military or Baghdad to comment. Since then, several readers and a spokesman for the base where the soldier is supposedly based have written in, raising more questions. âAbsolutely every piece of information thatâs come out since we put that call up has cast further doubt on that story,â said Michael Goldfarb, the online editor of The Weekly Standard. âThereâs not a single person that has come forward and said, âIt sounds plausible.â â Franklin Foer, the editor of The New Republic, will not reveal the authorâs 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. âNow that these questions have been raised, weâve launched an inquiry. Weâre putting the full resources of the magazine to look into the story,â Mr. Foer said. âItâs 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 theyâre on 20-hour active combat missions sometimes, and itâs very difficult for me to get them all on the phone to ask them the questions that Iâd like to ask.â 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 childâs 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. After this article appeared, Mr. Foer said he was "absolutely certain" that the author is a soldier.