If Bush had sent 50,000 troops to invade Nigeria, no one would have doubted it was a full-fledged war. Obama is leaving 50,000 troops in Iraq as a “residual force”—and nobody cares.
An Insurgency is Born
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
18 Comments. Leave new
What I find most amazing about this is that no one in power (either with Obama or Bush) seems to have realized that people don't like being occupied — ever.
When Iraq started back in 2003 and my students asked why we weren't being greeted in Cheney-esque glory, I asked them how would they feel if the Chinese decided Bush was a dictator and came to "liberate" us.
Why kant leederz think?
I love the possibilities of alternate history. Dorme bene…
IOKIODI…..it's Okay if Obama does it.
Nice!
It's bullshit and that ones we are pulling out of Iraq are just going to get sent to Afghanistan. Why aren't there more people questioning it? I think Ted is the only one pointing it out, but you don't know it unless you come here.
Are you even on yahoo news anymore?
The US has troops in Japan… I guess WW2 still rages!
The US has troops in Japan
Staged for war with China and/or N. Korea.
This is spot-on. Why do so many Americans have trouble seeing the shoe on the other foot? They feel one way if it's America, but can't imagine why people in other countries would feel the same way.
There is one big difference though: the Brits knew they had lost. Anonymous 4:55, the same goes for Japan. Winners get their way, and losers don't get to complain or fight back. In Iraq, the reason for the withdrawal is NOT that the war is over and we lost.
(Sure, a complete withdrawal would end the war, but that reverses the cause and effect relative to the Brits' complete withdrawal from the colonies.)
Briliant!
Yes, Anon@3/12/09 4:55 PM, what's a few orders of magnitude between friends? Not that it is right for the US to keep troops in Japan, mind you!
Wouldn't a better analogy be if the FRENCH had left 50,000 troops behind after Yorktown?
What is going to happen to the people who come home? Do they have jobs waiting for them or will they be on the dole?
Tyke, there really isn't a "dole" in the United States. There's limited unemployment insurance(in some states, very limited), but I don't think those discharged from the military can get benefits.
Some returning soldiers will try to make a living in the black markets (drugs).
Ultimately, America's prison system–the world's largest–absorbs the country's excess labor.
@ tyke
Jobs waiting for them? Unless they have connections, or their military training has them hooked up with a contractor position, no.
I got out of the Army when he economy was "good" and it took me 5 months to find a job. Thank liberal jesus I am not getting out now.
Skevin,
yes, it should be the French, but Ted already did that cartoon several years ago. In it, i believe, the French also chose/installed our first president, as a caretaker.
It was also a much better/funnier cartoon than this one.
Funny, no Anon yet reminded us that GW was a plantation-owning, slave-master heir of privilege.
What's you point Incitatus?
Washington was all these things, but, rightly or wrongly, he's been canonized as an important democratic (read: progressive) leader. Never mind that it took the U.S. another 150 years to even grant full person-hood to all its citizens. Yes, by contemporary standards, those early American leaders appear to be monstrous, but they were necessary for incremental progress–much as Obama will appear monstrous if mankind continues to become more humane and egalitarian in the future.
It's pretty obvious that Rall's conjuring Washington's mythic status in this cartoon.
Can you try and be a little less uptight, Grouchy? Now that's a fitting alias.