Lag Time

Jason asks:

Not to bitch about something I enjoy for free, but I was wondering why there’s always a fairly significant lag in the ucomics.com page for your work? I read a number of other strips on that site and they always are updated daily.
Case in point, today’s the 18th, the latest comic is from the 13th. It would appear we’re missing two.
I’m sure you have many other things to concern yourself with, but I’m starting to fall behind the blog, and look forward to getting a chance to read whatever comic it is that has so many folks up in arms over our troops comporting themselves in a less than gentlemanly manner.
Although I obviously don’t have enough to do at work today, I’ll nonetheless keep this short and close by relaying that I am truly a fan of your work and hope you keep doing what you do for many, many years to come.

Thanks, Jason. These are legitimate concerns. The short answer is: not my fault, not my fault! My syndicate maintains my online archives, not me. So sometimes things get screwed up. Of course, there is an option: for the small price of $10/year (or $5/6 months), you can have my cartoons and columns emailed directly to your inbox, often as much as 4-5 days before they appear online. Just email chet@rall.com to sign up to the Ted Rall Subscription Service.

Reasons to be Cheerful

That’s an Ian Dury reference, New Wave fans.
Ben asks:

Regarding the comic in which you pilloried Democrats for cheering “My candidate didn’t lose by much!”
What does cheer you up in troubled times like these? As you well know, Bush & Co. have left precious little about which to feel good these days. When I’m trying to think of something positive (on the days I can drag myself out of bed without going on a rampage), I can’t come up with much; sometimes the only thing I can think of in that vein about 2004 is “Well, at least we didn’t get McGoverned or Dukakised (sp?)!” Not very cheery, I realize.
So! Any suggestions?

Patrick Fitzgerald (not to be confused with Patrik Fitzgerald, the brilliant lost “punk poet” of the late 1970s, is working up a tasty case against Rove, Cheney, etc. That alone gives me cause to get up in the morning.

From Another Vet

Jeff writes:

I frequently read your stuff on Common Dreams and elsewhere.

But Goddamn!!
Todays thing made me say “Hell Yes !”
I’ve been saying the same things for about as long as you apparently have
But I’ve never heard anyone with a wide audience say it.
It was apparent to me what was up….
we are ruled by a bunch of fucking thieves and murderers…
and they stole the last election too…….
I HATE the loss of life, but in a way I am glad to see things go so totally to shit in Iraq…..
And I DO NOT feel obliged to sacrifice a fucking thing for this war……..
let all the dumb assholes who supported this thing pay the price…
I’m a fucking Vet myself……..but I’m getting the hell out of here….
the American people are too fucking lazy, stupid and greedy to govern themselves……..
And I have been saying that for at least a couple of decades………

That’s right: Thieves and murderers are ruling America. Loverly.

Praise from Overseas, Sort of

Brett says:

I’m an expatriate American here in Japan. I haven’t lived in the States for over 9 years. It’s been disheartening to watch what’s happened in the US the past 5 years, especially the emasculation of our media and the Nero-like attitude of most Americans. We Americans abroad are confronted on a daily basis by the enmity created by Dubya and his minions; while most people are able to separate Americans from Dubya, that became extremely difficult to sell after the last election.
Now, I love my country and I refuse to kowtow and apologize for being an American; I will savage the Bush regime to anyone who wants to confront me about it (which happens all too often these days), but when people start in on Americans in general I push back. Fortunately, I have always been able to rely on your columns and cartoons to prove to people that not all Americans are asleep at the wheel. Thank you for that.
I don’t always agree with your views, obviously. I’m not a sycophant! But I have great admiration for the courage you’ve shown these past 5 years in the face of the relentless onslaught from brain-dead right wing pyschos. Thanks for that.
Your new cartoon with Bush sleeping away counting flag-draped coffins is perfect. When you’re good, you’re very good. Nice job.

Thanks for getting it.

Moral Equivalence, Republican Style

DF writes:

Hey Ted,,,ain’t wrote you in a while. I have been looking at your toons,,,just to get a laugh at the left side of things. I don’t want to argue or bitch at you…you’re gonna believe what you want and I the same. I do have 1 thing for you though. You say that what happened at Abu Ghraib was “torture”…I say it was child’s play and will prove it.
Go to this link (http://history.acusd.edu/gen/st/~ehimchak/death_march.html) and see what Americans suffered at the hands of Japs. Compare the two. Now,,,do you still think that what happened in Iraq was torture?

Yes.
So this is what it’s come to: now the armchair warriors are reduced to comparing themselves favorably with the Japanese war criminals of World War II.

One Vet Says

Bryan says:

Your column, “Sacrifice? Count me out.” was some of your best work that I’ve read. I don’t always agree with you, but this time you really knocked one out of the park. Kudos. By the way, I am a veteran who has been “over there”. Keep up the good work.

Thanks, man, I appreciate it. And for those who wonder, yeah, I hear from a lot of disgruntled Iraq war vets.

The Big Tent and the Troops

BY writes:

Ted, you’re a god. Unfortunately, a lot of liberals would disagree with me. The Left is split on whether we should criticize the troops for obeying unethical orders; too many think we’d hurt the soldiers’ pwecious wittle feewings. How can we all fit into the Big Tent?

God? More like a minor wood nymph. But thanks.
Two thoughts:
First, it’s time for the Democratic Party/American left to start recognizing that there is a wide range of opinion concerning the sort of tactics we deploy against the neofascist hard right. It’s embarrassing to see Democrats shy away from their own party chairman, Howard Dean–particularly when he’s one of the few Dems willing to say out loud what they all say over rosé.
Which brings me to point two. One of the major reasons Americans don’t trust Democratic politicians is thay they come off as even more mealy-mouthed than their Republican counterparts. Some straight-talking, even trash-talking, is what’s in order here. That includes not allowing themselves to be beaten over the head with the flag or the flag’s well-armed surrogates, the military. Besides which, the kind of people who’d take offense to such remarks probably won’t vote left anyway.

Sacrifice for Sacrifice’s Sake?

Regular Right-wing Correspondent Alan writes:

Did you get many emails from regular readers who were surprised to hear you say you weren’t interested in making a sacrifice?
You’re certainly not alone in that. Unquestionably, the per capita rate of U.S. citizens unwilling to make any personal sacrifice to protect this nation is growing exponentially and will eventually result in its’ demise.
Our soldiers in Iraq are taking a disrespecting from the liberal pacifists now, much like the Viet Nam vets did. When the day comes that you really need someone to protect your ass you’ll find that, with the help of your liberal brethren, you’ve convinced everyone that nothings worth risking your life for.

No, Alan. Liberals, as much or more than other Americans, are always willing to sacrifice to protect this nation. That doesn’t mean, however, sacrificing every time Piehole wages another bullshit war for no reason–er, no good reason. The wars against Afghanistan and Iraq don’t have anything to do with protecting America. And that is why they’re not worth risking so much as a toenail for.
Oh, and please drop that “disrespected Vietnam vets” line. That’s been thoroughly debunked. It didn’t happen to any significant extent.

“Slandering” Troops

A Marine major writes:

As a Marine reservist who was mobilized last year and has returned, I find your cartoon about our current troops committing torture very saddening.  I wish you could spend some time in Iraq with the troops to see first hand how our troops interact with the Iraqi people.  

Thank you for your service, but I can’t help noticing the way that you gloss over the proven, photographed, widely documented acts of systematic torture committed by many US troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, Cuba and elsewhere. The fact is, many soldiers who may not condone such behavior become tarnished by it because their sense of loyalty and embarrassment prevents them from speaking out against it. The truth is, it’s more the duty of honorable US soldiers to condemn torture by Americans than it is mine or anyone else’s–but they’re not doing it.

Our troops today are patient, kind and disciplined.  To characterize them as sadist only aids the enemy’s propaganda efforts. 

 
It would be more accurate to say that some are patient, kind and disciplined. Others–many others–clearly are anything but. If you watch the documentary “Gunner Palace,” various reports from embedded reporters on CNN and elsewhere, or if you have personally witnessed the behavior of US troops in the battlefield (as I did in Afghanistan), you can’t help but be stricken by the horrific, rude, unprofessional and abusive behavior of many (not a few bad apples, but many) American soldiers acting as our representatives and ambassadors to the rest of the world. Breaking into people’s homes, particularly in the Middle East where such an act is considered a personal transgression of the highest order, is simply unaccptable. Placing bags over men’s heads, holding down their heads with one’s foot, using plastic handcuffs–these are all acts of abuse that inspire hatred and contempt against US forces and, by extension, the United States. And rounding up people for indefinite detention, without being charged, is simply inexcusable, and puts on a similar moral footing with our worst enemies of the past. Even Nazi Germany pretended to adhere to the Geneva Conventions related to the treatment of POWs, but we do not in Afghanistan, Gitmo, or other US concentration camps.
The best way to avoid being characterized as sadistic by enemy propaganda is to stop practicing sadism.

I wish people would stop politicizing the war on the left or right.  I wish that people would realize for the G.I. in the field is a simple matter of us completing our mission and establishing a democratic Iraq or letting the terrorist win and vindicating their strategy of murdering innocents to achieve political gain.  (If the terrorist win, terrorism will only grow exponentially.)

The war was politicized from the start because it was launched by the right, without the support of the left but rather over its loud objections. The right’s unwillingness to build consensus, or if such a thing was impossible to give up the enterprise entirely, is responsible for our current divisiveness. Characterizing Iraqi resistance fighters as “terrorists” when the Pentagon itself estimates that 90 percent of them are native nationalist Iraqis is not helpful or useful. What is sad here is that the G.I. in the field, as you put it, has been assigned an impossible task in an unwinnable war using insufficient force strength and equipment. A democratic Iraq can never emerge from the occupation. Hell, right now there isn’t an Iraq at all, but rather a de facto independent Iraqi Kurdistan and a rump Iraq minus Kurdistan. The various political and ethnic factions will fight their civil war until long after we’ve withdrawn. That became inevitable when we removed Saddam Hussein, the tyrant of a nation without any viable political rivals. As for murdering innocents, well, the United States can hardly claim that it doesn’t do that in Afghanistan and Iraq. Oh, right–those are “accidents.” Well, that’s what the insurgents say too.

I am personally very close to a Baghdad family who lost their father to Saddam’s reign of terror.  The former regime and the Baathist insurgents tortured, killed and oppressed almost the entire population including children.  More than 400,000 dead mass graves should speak for themselves.   I was in Bosnia twice and Iraq’s tyranny was much worse.

There’s no need to exagerrate Saddam’s crimes. He was a barbarous dictator. But nothing close to 400,000 graves have ever been unearthed, and the gassing of the Kurds is a far more complicated affair than Bush would have us believe. Let’s just say that no one misses Saddam, except perhaps Iraqis who long for regular electricity.

My wife is a Navy nurse currently on her way to Al-Anbar province.  We also have a two year old daughter.  I politely request that you honor our family’s personal sacrifice by not charactering us in this way.  We wear the uniform and you have slandered us.  It is very frustrating to see propaganda like this coming from your fellow countrymen when you are putting your life on the line for people seeking to be free of fear and terror.
I recommend you read Natan Shransky’s book “The Case for Democracy” to get a perspective on the Middle East.  I have spent significant time there and also have a M.S. in Int’l Relations with a Middle Eastern focus.

Suffice it to say, I’ve spent enough time in the Middle East to have my own perspective about US relations with same. And I’ve also read enough propaganda books by wide-eyed neo-conservatives who think we should rebuild the British Empire.

I know if is just a cartoon, but it is filled with ignorance and slanders those who are making great sacrifices for their country and freedom.  Criticize political leaders all you want, but don’t please do not slander the troops.

It’s not slander if it’s true. If we don’t want it to be true, we need to change our troops’ behavior.

1945 v. 2005

Kelly writes:

I read your “1945” comic on my Yahoo home page. I’m every bit of a “liberal” or “thinking” person as you. But I must say, to portray the soildiers in Iraq that way is BS. Any population has idiots in it, including folks that write commentary as you know. Should people throw you in the same pot as Rush or a similar writer? I know, Rush doesn’t write commentary but you get the point.
I have a good friend there now who is also a thinking person and knows the war is bogus. He just wants to come home. I would fell awful if he thought that’s how we think of all the troops there. To put all the soldiers in the same vain as your recent strip did does nothing but to alienate the people that need to be reading your column. It also alienates people like me who love your column and email it to all their right wing friends. Just a thought.

One of the interesting aspects of cartooning is that people project their personal biases onto images to an extent that they might not in other media. Take a look at the above-referenced cartoon. There are soldiers, yes, but nowhere does it say that these solders represent all soldiers, or even all US soldiers, or even all US soldiers in each time period. What the cartoon does, or attempts to do, is contrast the shock of US troops upon discovering the death camps and torture chambers of the Third Reich at the end of World War II with the dispassionate, blasé, and yes–even gleeful–attitude of our soldiers upon learning of the abuse, torture and murder of countless (literally) Muslim detainees in American concentration camps at Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram, etc. Kelly assumes that I tarnish all 2005 soldiers with torture while failing to realize that this would require me to paint all World War II-era US soldiers as benevolent. In fact, as educated people know, US soldiers were guilty of countless atrocities, including torture and murder, during World War II. Had I wanted to indicate that these troops represented ALL soldiers, I would have indicated that somehow–but I didn’t.

The harsher issue, however, is that when ONE soldier is guilty of abuse, torture and/or murder, they all are by extension. The first time an Iraqi was insulted or injured without good cause, the war lost its moral imperative. But let’s get real. The abuse of Iraqi civilians and detainees (who are, by definition, all innocent until placed on trial) is widespread, normal, typical. Entire towns have been cordoned off. Night-time raids are usual. Rent the documentary “Gunner Palace” and you’ll watch US troops, relying on “intelligence” that a house is a bomb-making lab, break down a family’s door in the middle of the night. The men are taken away to Abu Ghraib, never to be seen again, despite the fact that no evidence was ever found of bomb-making on the premises. If Iraq war veterans are honest with themselves, they’ll admit that they treated Iraqis disrespectfully–for example, yelling in English at people who only speak Arabic.

But back to the cartoon. The fact remains, America has changed. We, as a society, now condone and accept torture as acceptable. We are not the America that liberated Europe and Asia, but rather something closer to those powers that oppressed them.