Inappropriate Content: Kakistocracy©

John Hinderaker's latest post begins with an admission:

It is universally acknowledged that public support for the Iraq war is eroding. Some of the polls supporting this claim are faulty because they are based on obviously misleading internal data, but the basic point cannot be denied: many Americans, possibly even a majority, have turned against the war.

As I put it yesterday, the argument that's starting to gain some traction. Anti-war protests continue in Crawford, Salt Lake City, and pretty much anywhere else President Bush touches down. For the doves, it's a vindication. For conservatives like Hinderaker, an explanation must be found. In this case, it's the media's fault.

News reporting on the war consists almost entirely of itemizing casualties. Headlines say: "Two Marines killed by roadside bomb." Rarely do the accompanying stories--let alone the headlines that are all that most people read--explain where the Marines were going, or why; what strategic objective they and their comrades were pursuing, and how successful they were in achieving it; or how many terrorists were also killed. For Americans who do not seek out alternative news sources like this one, the war in Iraq is little but a succession of American casualties. The wonder is that so many Americans do, nevertheless, support it.

I can't disagree too harshly with anyone who wants to complain about our media. After all, what inadequate, inane reporting they do on the war is squeezed in between the latest missing white girl and "Producer Plans Reality Show for Sperm Donors." There's practically no discussion of the day-to-day operations of the Iraqi government or the American forces or of any sort of overall strategy or plan.

Unfortunately for John, the stories the media isn't covering in Iraq are not all a "fail[ure] to report the progress that is being made." For example, the day before yesterday, the media failed to report that

The Iraqi Board of Supreme Audit, in a confidential report delivered to Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and reviewed by Knight Ridder, has uncovered widespread fraud and waste in $1 billion worth of weapons procurement contracts involving senior Iraqi officials in the Defense Ministry. The audit report indicates that as much as $500 million may have been lost through three intermediary companies that hid “kickbacks they received from contracts involving the purchase of unnecessary, overpriced or outdated equipment”, Knight Ridder reported. Iraqi Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi confirmed most of the audit board report’s findings in an interview, according to Knight Ridder. He said that at least $500 million in Iraqi money essentially has disappeared. Al-Dulaimi has fired nine senior officials, including Ziad Cattan, the ministry’s former procurement chief.

And then today, the mainstream media is failing, so far, to report that

A former worker for a Halliburton Co. subsidiary faces as long as 20 years in prison and a fine of as much as $1.25 million after pleading guilty to taking kickbacks in Iraq. It was the second case this year of a Halliburton worker facing criminal charges in connection with the company's work in Iraq.

So, that's the Akron Beacon Journal and an accounting magazine leading the way there. Hooray for the modern media.