Trickling out of the far corner of the globe have been reports questioning the veracity of Ishmael Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone. Even the Australian reporters who discovered the problems with Beah’s memoir, doubted whether anyone should be too upset. After all, memoirs are subjective and often take liberties to get to a higher truth. But when the reporters tried to get in touch with Beah, he responded with a terse and accusatory note but won't answer questions.

Now the Australians are raising bigger issues. In Seirra Leone, no one has any evidence that an important element to Beah’s story—the battle in a refugee camp that left six dead—ever happened.