Pentagon inspector general under scrutiny... by the Los Angeles Times?

The article "The Scrutinizer Finds Himself Under Scrutiny" from T. Christian Miller reports that some are raising questions about the activities of the recently resigned Pentagon inspector general, Joseph E. Schmitz.

In light of posts such as "Watchdog [Clark Kent Erwin] details confrontations with Ridge", this certainly sounds interesting. However, in the skillful hands of the Los Angeles Times, it turns into sleazy tabloidesque reportage:

["liberal" sleaze deleted...] Schmitz's sister is Mary Kay Letourneau... [...more tabloid junk deleted...]

Holy moley! I'm ready to pronounce guilt already.

As near as I can figure it out, there are a few slightly substantial allegations. However, most are made by unnamed sources and only one has some slight heft:

When confronted later by congressional staff about the accuracy of the release, Schmitz told the Senate Armed Services Committee in August 2004 that the release was "technically correct." But this year, when asked again, he acknowledged that the release was "inaccurate." The Department of Defense has also acknowledged that the information in the press release "may not have been accurate."

I'm not going to bother repeating the sleazy yellow journalism in the rest of the article or the subtext of their coverage of that. Perhaps they should look inward for a clue.

Politics · Mon, 09/26/2005 - 09:07 · · Importance: 1