…but it’s a little weird when the Pentagon is doing the criticizing:
NEW YORK A Tom Toles editorial cartoon published in The Washington Post on Monday and on its Web site has drawn a very rare and very strong protest letter to the editors from all six members of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, E&P has learned.
The letter, not yet published by the Post, charges that the six military leaders “believe you and Mr. Toles have done a disservice to your readers and your paper’s reputation by using such a callous depiction of those who have volunteered to defend this nation, and as a result, have suffered traumatic and life-altering wounds. … As the Joint Chiefs, it is rare that we all put our hand to one letter, but we cannot let this reprehensible cartoon go unanswered.”
A Pentagon spokeswoman confirmed the contents of the letter to E&P late this afternoon. That the newspaper had received such a letter was first reported on the popular AmericaBlog site, which is run by John Aravosis, this afternoon.
The spokeswoman said a letter from all six joint chiefs to anyone, let alone a newspaper, is rare, but the cartoon so offended them, they wanted to let their feelings be known. “It was expressing their disappointment with the paper and outrage at using that image to make a political point,” said Lt. Col. Diane Battaglia. “That is a rare occurrence, but the level of inappropriateness prompted a response of unanimous support.”
Story here. The target of the cartoon is obviously Rumsfeld’s callousness, but I’m sure we’re about to hear plenty of howls of outrage about how Tom Toles hates the troops.
… see the cartoon (and read more from Aravosis) here.
February 1st, 2006 at 7:16 pm
An eight year old would comprehend this cartoon. Are we supposed to believe that all six members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff do not??? If so, this is a new level of evidence that our country is being run by imbeciles.
February 1st, 2006 at 7:17 pm
Geez, that’s a pretty mild cartoon as things go. But hey, that Toles guy is a good looking fellow, isn’t he?
February 1st, 2006 at 7:20 pm
“We cannot let this reprehensible cartoon go unanswered.” Wow. Say that line to yourself a few times.
Thanks to the Joint Chiefs for taking a stand against treasonous cartoons.
February 1st, 2006 at 7:27 pm
I’d just like to say that the banner at the top of the page creates a cool little optical illusion.
But, yes, this thing about the Joint Chiefs is absurd.
February 1st, 2006 at 7:33 pm
Well, they just ensured that many, many more people will see the cartoon.
Toles is great. I love he always ends with a little comment in the corner.
February 1st, 2006 at 7:44 pm
I fail to see the reprhensible part. The absolutely God-damned right freakin’ spot on! part — that I see. But the outrage of the JCs in this matter I think illustrates the way in which the “center” position of popular discourse in this country has been moved drastically to the right. Ann Coulter suggests that the murder of a sitting Supreme Court justice might be a nice little present for her? No problem. Give real support to the troops by calling out the callous bastard who put them in harms way for no defensible national security reason in the first place? Treasonous, I tell you. Treasonous.
February 1st, 2006 at 7:47 pm
dang so humor ain’t an inalienable right ? wow i feel privalaged to still be able to read tmw
February 1st, 2006 at 7:52 pm
a quote concerning:
Aravosis from AmericaBlog told E&P: “Now that the Joint Chiefs have addressed the insidious threat cartoons pose to our troops, perhaps they can move on to less pressing issues like getting them their damn body armor.”
February 1st, 2006 at 7:54 pm
Toles is the best of the daily political cartoonists. The reaction tells the story — he scored a direct hit. To hear the Joint Chiefs (isn’t that a mental image picture?) squeal their indignation is just the usual Repub tactic of changing the terms of the discussion to their advantage. They don’t address the real point of the cartoon.
February 1st, 2006 at 7:59 pm
Yeah, where was their “outrage” during the staging, planning, and implementation of this war that caused so many to be killed and injured in the first place? Guess that wasn’t offensive.
February 1st, 2006 at 8:39 pm
P’raps the Joint Chiefs finally realized that comics are the new front line in the War on Terra. With all the outrage in Europe over caricatures of Muhammad they must have decided that they shouldn’t allow Islamic voices to dominate the uproar about the scourge of comics.
February 1st, 2006 at 9:48 pm
Hey I’m excited that some people somewhere in the upper eschelons of the government even read the newspapers. Maybe the White House will take some cues and pay attention to the world outside their solipsitic reality distortion field.
February 1st, 2006 at 10:14 pm
Poor little Donald got his feelings hurt. Has this ever been done before in our nation’s history? Has the leadership of the Pentagon ever saw fit to write a letter and complain about a political cartoon? What’s even more obvious is that they’re doing it to protect themselves, and using their fake compassion for the troops as cover.
February 1st, 2006 at 10:14 pm
That cartoon is right on. I’m married to a soldier, and yesterday he told me some interesting info: the Army has a new program where they track how long it has been since the last time every soldier was deployed. It’s called “Dwell Time”. If your dwell time gets to be longer than 18 months, alarms start going off and flags go up all over your file. I’m SEVERELY disturbed by this news, anyone else? Clearly Rumsfeld is telling us the truth when he claims the military isn’t stretched too thin.
February 1st, 2006 at 10:33 pm
Well, boo hoo, the Joint Chiefs are offended. I’ll pay attention to their tender feelings when they do something to address the fact that a lot of us have been offended at the things they and Rumsfeld have done to get people’s arms and legs blown off (and their genitals wired) for the last three goddamned years.
February 1st, 2006 at 10:51 pm
I don’t recall a similar letter addressed to certain assholes who paraded around wearing purple bandaids, certainly a….
” callous depiction of those who have volunteered to defend this nation, and as a result, have suffered traumatic and life-altering wounds.”
February 2nd, 2006 at 12:06 am
That’s pretty amazing. Maybe the Pentagon didn’t want to coufuse Rummy doctoring the reasons for a war with, you know, being a doctor. Or maybe that’s a hell of a stretch.
February 2nd, 2006 at 12:57 am
Amazing. Apparently the Joint Chiefs haven’t been able expedite improved armor to our troops because they’ve been too busy scouring the papers for reprehensible cartoons.
From this blog, Jan 7, 2006 via the NY Times. http://thismodernworld.com/2594
“A secret Pentagon study has found that as many as 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor. Such armor has been available since 2003, but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials.”
The link for the full story requires a name and password. If you need ‘em: tmwreader, 12345
Here’s a link if you’d like to give the JSC a piece of your mind. I sure will:
http://www.jcs.mil/jcs_comment.html
February 2nd, 2006 at 1:20 am
Here’s some positive spin on all this: In their outrage, Team JC seems to have inadvertently made some public acknowledgement that troops have, in fact, been maimed. I’d wager we could go so far as to hypothesize that they know the number of wounded to be in the thousands. Like Sarah Silverman said, “When life gives you AIDS, make Lemonades!”
February 2nd, 2006 at 2:42 am
I’ve managed to decipher the comment made by the JCsoS, using my handy neocon code-breaker ring: “It’s a realistic depiction of our administration’s casual disregard for human life and we hate it, we hate you, and we’re hoping to trick the gullible masses into interpreting your cartoon as anti-American, military-bashing propaganda so they won’t accidentally notice how evil we are.”
February 2nd, 2006 at 2:59 am
Oops, meant “decoder ring”. Though I think “code-breaker ring” is snazzier.
February 2nd, 2006 at 6:55 am
Tome,
i couldn’t find an e-mail address for you, so i thought i would post this here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4650154.stm
It does seem somewhat comforting to realise that a lot of the bloggers in Iran have as much concern over their government’s misplaced priorities and seeming hunger for war as those of western bloggers. They also seem to have a lot of comments that are so similar it seems troublesome, particularly the idea that their government s stirring up international problems to distract from domestic issues and to reassign the blame to foreigners.
Chris
February 2nd, 2006 at 8:02 am
Wait, that took a minute to sink in. The JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF are protesting a Tom Toles cartoon? The JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF are claiming permanent emotional scarring over this goddamn Tom Toles cartoon?
February 2nd, 2006 at 9:41 am
I can’t seem to find the cartoon, anyone have a link to it? Thanks.
February 2nd, 2006 at 9:58 am
hard not to think that they feel a little defensive. stand up to your misguided civilian leaders much? didn’t think so …
(p.s.) Greg — the cartoon is linked from the story (which Tom links above)…
February 2nd, 2006 at 10:18 am
You know what else disrespects those brave folks who have volunteered to defend the nation, and as such, suffered traumatic and life-threatening wounds?
Sending them into war under false pretenses of the noblest causes to risk their lives so you and your buddies can get rich and cement the American empire’s claim on foreign lands with a new protectorate.
I’m so sick of this argument that not wanting the troops to be over there dying and getting wounded in the first place somehow equates to not supporting them.
February 2nd, 2006 at 10:21 am
thanks
guess I am in need of more coffee this morning…
February 2nd, 2006 at 10:51 am
On the linked site it says “the Pentagon try to stifle a free media while supposedly promoting freedom in Iraq”. How is this any different than offering national health care to the Iraqis but not to Americans?
The fact is that it is a soldier’s duty to do as told. They are not allowed to question any legal order. They have to do this to protect us. They can not question where they are sent or why. They also are not allowed to speak out against the President’s or the Pentagon’s policies. On the other hand it is our job to protect our soldiers. We do this exactly by questioning these same policies. That is not something we can do. That is our duty.
Support your troops. Make sure the government gives them what they need to do a dangerous job but most of all don’t let them be sent into the breach if it is not needed.
February 2nd, 2006 at 11:03 am
This has to be a guerilla marketing ploy to spread this cartoon to as many people as possible. It is just not possible that the actual Joint Chiefs of Staff could be this clueless. Please?
February 2nd, 2006 at 11:04 am
TT-
Keep up the good work.
I have been reading your blog for several years now, and love your
cartoons, as well as the ones of Mr.s Toles and Oliphant.
Mr. Toles hit them directly. It was a perfect cartoon of the
situation, and poor Rummy Baby can’t say s___. Truth hurts.
Try being one of the kids in the hospital, Mr. “Stuff Happens”.
Have an excellent day.
Peace.
Murph
February 2nd, 2006 at 12:22 pm
What would Rumsfeld know about being “battle-hardened?” All he ever did in the military was fly planes for the Navy during peacetime.
February 2nd, 2006 at 12:22 pm
“you go to war with the army you have not the army you wished you had” –Rumsfeld, blaming the victim, to the grunt who asked for body/vehicle armor, a question which drew CHEERS from the whole crowd of grunts.
the toles cartoon plays to the troops growing sense of DOD/Civilian leadership betrayal of the military, personified by rumsfeld.
the generals letter defending that civilian betrayal was a HUGE PR MISTAKE. because the generals letter just revealed to the troops that the brass supports the DOD screwing you over. so it’s not the civilian politicians in charge that are responsible for your FUABR sitch; its also the brass in command of you that prevents body armor, prevents reinforcements, and prevents Vet benefits etc .
idiots! they just made the morale problem ten times worse by setting themselves up for a frag-fest.
February 2nd, 2006 at 12:30 pm
You know, there’s this guy, his name was Pablo Picasso. He drew this painting that depicted death and horror and savage brutality. He named it “Guernica,” and he painted it in protest of the atrocities committed by a collusion of German and Spanish fascist networks.
There’s a story, probably apocryphal, that have the Spanish secret police knocked on the door and, pointing to a replica of the painting, demanded to know if Picasso had done this. “No,” he replied, “you did.”
So I would hope that the Joint Cheifs are outraged by the depiction of amputated Iraq War veterans. After all, it’s their handiwork.
February 2nd, 2006 at 1:19 pm
Not that I’m supporting this war in any way, but part of their “outrage”, I think is just trying to keep the spirts up for those who do have to go through the long and painful process of reablilitation. It makes it that much harder for these patients when they start to suspect that they lost a limb for a lie.
February 2nd, 2006 at 1:28 pm
The Pentagon top brass is upset about a little cartoon, enough to write an unprecedented letter, but the Swift Boating/trashing of war veterans, and veterans the pentagon had formerly labeled “True American Heroes”, is just dandy fine, as long as the targets - former war heroes, now scumbags - are not Bush supporters?
Meanwhile, those who’ve never served a day in their lives in combat are now the real military heroes?
These Pentagon leaders are traitors to their own institution. They lack the moral will and conviction to stand up for what is right, but they’ll unleash their wrath on those who simply criticize one of these chicken hawks.
The irony is, there are a lot of high level and low level military personnel who see this and feel the same way - that Swift Boating w/o military or Pentagon retort is destructive, that the military is stretched way too thin just to shore up a largely discredited academic theory of ’smaller, faster, better’. These military personnel have had the morale knocked right out of them. They can fight as hard as they possibly can, only to be Swift Boated in the end, or charged with wrong-doing just for following orders so that the higher ups are protected, all with the implicit support of the same top brass that wrote this letter. Even some of the top brass know they’re just being scared little lemmings, trying to avoid the wrath of Rove/Rumsfeld, and are allowing morale to wither in the process.
There are many in the military who are ashamed of their current leaders. These ‘leaders’ have hurt the capability of the military by undermining the very principal of the military’s traditions of honor and accountability.
February 2nd, 2006 at 2:02 pm
My God, talk about pathetic! Don’t the Joint Chiefs have better things to do with thier time than whine about impertinent political cartoons? Or did Rummy put them up to this?
February 2nd, 2006 at 3:47 pm
Exactly, John D. — in fact, I read the statement in the JC’s letter that it is “unusual for all the JC’s to comment in unision” to be bitching from the JC’s that “somebody” kind of leaned on them — i.e. somebody made them do it. Doc Rummy, or close assistent? I mean, really, why would the JC’s bother?
February 2nd, 2006 at 4:03 pm
> …trying to keep the spirits up for those who do have to go through the long and painful process of reablilitation. It makes it that much harder for these patients when they start to suspect that they lost a limb for a lie.
February 2nd, 2006 at 4:13 pm
What happened to the rest of my note???
Jana C.H.
Seattle
February 2nd, 2006 at 4:54 pm
Don’t these people have better work to do than write letters about comics? Even monarchies had realized the importance of having a “fou du roi”. Are we really sinking that low?
February 2nd, 2006 at 5:31 pm
First of all (or should I say “Frist” of all..?), this is a 1st Amendment issue (not a Frist Amendment issue - yet). The two Joint Chiefs could appropriately write the Washington Post to express their outrage as “citizens” of the U.S., but as military leaders the letter is chilling and should be renounced by any administration that should be fighting to protect our rights (ahem, pardon me while I clear the Bill of Rights from my throat).
Second, we can only hope that Toles lit a fire that will begin a national dialogue on the realities of this war. Few, if any, Americans are aware that 64 soldiers died in Iraq in January ‘06. Triple that missing pieces of their bodies. I know they didn’t die or bleed in my hometown newspaper, or on the front pages of the 3 or 4 papers I read every day. The Bush administration does not want us to see the blood, or the grieving, this is an administrative policy. So, hopefully, Toles’ cartoon and The Letter will ignite a discussion, because, as Americans, we NEED pictures to really engage us. Let the slide show roll. Every picture may be worth a thousand votes. (What is a cartoon worth..? In this case maybe a million votes…? More..?)
The whole thing reminds me of a TMW cartoon - (paraphrasing per short term memory capability) “the NY Times reported that the U.S. was spying on its citizens, and the Bush administration expressed outrage - AT THE NY TIMES..!!”
Get em TT…
February 2nd, 2006 at 6:59 pm
Is Toles’ cartoon a bit rough and on the edge of taste? Perhaps
Is it anywhere near as distasteful as Rumsfeld’s constant mixture of arrogance, ignorance and unfettered pollyanna bullshit?
not by a damn sight.
Toles’ cartoon hasn’t killed anyone… on the other hand, however, Rummy’s blistering incompetence has killed plenty.
February 2nd, 2006 at 8:30 pm
I can’t believe the Joint Chiefs would waste their time on this. They are highly paid functionaries. The higher moral road would be to ignore. Sheesh.
February 2nd, 2006 at 9:06 pm
The surest mark of man who knows he is guilty of some crime or social infraction is that he flinches at the slightest criticism. Rummy knows he is playing MacNamara circa 1968, and he cannot hide from things like Hermann Goering in the opulent splendour of a Karinhall, so he just stands behind the lectern and grinds his teeth at ever press conference. Because this isn’t a personal rebuke like that question from the soldier in Iraq (”Why don’t we have armored Hummvees?”), he deploys the Joint Chiefs to do his bitchery.
February 2nd, 2006 at 11:23 pm
As a veteran of the war in Iraq who knows a thing or two about “traumatic and life-altering injuries” although not to the point of the soldier depicted in the cartoon (I was lucky enough to only be paralyzed from the chest down.) I can safely say that the cartoon was far less offensive than the unfortunate accidents I have when the external catheter I wear for when the bladder I can no longer control decides to “function” or the hours of frustration I get when I try to make love to my wife and none of the options presented to us have worked. And it certainly is not as offensive as hearing the pro war/anti-cartoon crowd say that I shouldn’t “whine” about my situation because I volunteered and that sounds to me like they are saying that I got what I deserved. So take what they say with a very large grain of salt, they have no idea about how veterans with traumatic injuries feel, because if they did they would do best to use this cartoon in their new laugh therapy program.
February 3rd, 2006 at 1:48 am
Translated into text, this cartoon’s message is obvious:
“Rumsfeld doesn’t care about maimed US soldiers.”
It cannot be reasonably interpreted that the artist suggests:
“And neither do I.”
Why would he point out the administration’s callousness
if he shared such a disgusting disregard for the troops?
February 3rd, 2006 at 8:53 am
which would be worth more on e-bay…the Toles toon or the Sig Heil
response on Joint Chiefs Stationary? how about a cool mill for both?
February 3rd, 2006 at 1:40 pm
I printed the letter, the cartoon, and will send both with my own letter to the Joint Chiefs, and who knows who else, saying that if that letter is legit, they are too stupid to be running this country’s military.
February 3rd, 2006 at 3:06 pm
Wow, the violence-mongers are really getting touchy over little drawings, these days! If only they could apply their sensitivity towards fellow human beings…