Shocker!... Out of 1.4 million serving in the US military, the Sacramento Bee finds 250 who committed criminal acts!

Sunday, the Sacramento Bee begins a series documenting how the ranks of the US military have swelled with felons, drunks, crackpots, and abusers since the beginning of the Iraq war. Bee writer Russell Carollo (left) is the reporter compiling the list of criminals in the military.

Right off the bat, the Bee wants to establish that even though they only found 250 scoundrels in the military, there are alot more that that. Quoting from the first installment:

The Bee examination looked at only a fraction of the 1.4 million people in uniform ­ about 145,000 of them serving in Iraq and was conducted largely without benefit of sophisticated criminal databases available to the military.

Still, the Bee linked dozens of soldiers and Marines with criminal records and other questionable backgrounds to misconduct in the military. In some cases, past misconduct appeared to foreshadow future behavior.

Translation: "We smart people at the Bee know there are many more criminals in the military, we just can't prove it."

McClatchy is determined to live up to its reputation as the most anti-troop of any major newspaper chain or media outlet

Here is a sample of McClatchy's ugly history of anti-troop smears since the Iraq war began:

-McClatchy ran a 5-part series by Tom Lasseter depicting US troops at US detention facilities as torturers and abusers.

-McClatchy (then Knight Ridder) reporters Nancy Youssef and Matthew Schofield went on left-wing radio and gave interviews about US Marines supposedly committing cold-blooded murder at Haditha.

-McClatchy's Baghdad bureau chief has said her focus is on victimized Iraqis, not American achievement.

-McClatchy's Washington bureau chief, John Walcott, gave a speech saying the US could not win in Iraq. (How's that for no confidence in the troops?)

-McClatchy reporter Bobby Caina Calvan dissed a soldier at a Baghdad checkpoint, then bragged about it on his blog.

-McClatchy has never informed readers the stories of the US troops who won the battles of Fallujah, Basra, and Mosul.

-McClatchy has ignored the hundreds of thousands of noble Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan who give medical care, who patrol neighborhoods, who rebuild schools and medical clinics. These heroic soldiers are unknown to McClatchy readers because McClatchy is only interested in highlighting military failures and faults.

McClatchy's coming collapse may not be related to the middle finger McClatchy gives to the military. But when McClatchy collapses, many Americans who appreciate the military will not shed a tear.

Photo credit: Sacramento Bee