'Doonesbury' lists U.S. dead in Iraq

The Boston Globe ^

[PatriotEdition]

'Doonesbury' lists U.S. dead in Iraq

By JOSEPH KAHN

The Boston Globe

Readers of today's comics pages may want to keep a magnifying glass handy, or else don a blindfold. Six Doonesbury panels list the names of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq. The list covers the casualties up to April 23, the date that cartoonist Garry Trudeau submitted the strip for publication.

Doonesbury serves up the names without comment. For most readers, however, decoding its antiwar message will be no harder than brewing their morning coffee. Some comic strips grind their axes with noisy fanfare. This one is as muted as a bugler playing taps.

What's curious about the strip, beyond the power of these names to inflame passions in both hawks and doves (as they did when ABC's Nightline listed them during its April 30 broadcast), is that after 34 years in the cartooning business, from Watergate to Abu Ghraib, Trudeau is still capable of making readers wince. Editors, too.

A month ago, it was Army reservist B.D. getting his leg blown off in Iraq and uttering the epithet heard 'round the publishing world. About a dozen papers either spiked the strip or edited out the rough language.

A week ago, it was the head-on-a-platter image and its unfortunate association with the murder of Nicholas Berg. The strip had nothing to do with Iraq; it had been drawn before Berg was beheaded. Nevertheless, several papers, including The Herald, ran notes warning readers of what was coming, and Trudeau himself issued a statement regretting the strip's ''poor timing'' and apologizing for any offense the image may have caused readers.

As of Friday, none of the 1,400 newspapers that subscribe to Doonesbury have informed its distributor, Universal Press Syndicate, that they were pulling today's strip.

[drlevy88]

What's remarkable about this war is that the list actually fits in a comic strip.

[weegee]

Doonesbury serves up the names without comment.

I will comment on some of the death of some of these men.

Two were killed (and another 15 wounded) by a multiple grenade attack by a fifth columnist saboteur enlisted American muslim named Sgt. Hasan Karim Akbar.

His trial is in progress but being delayed by various tactics. His lawyer attempted to get his trial moved out fo military court. He also has been complaining of a problem with sleep apnea causing him to fall asleep during his own trial; he's undergoing medical investigations now.

I can't even find the names of the 2 deceased men. Sometimes it does matter to hear how they died.

I say we must show the American public what the left stands for:

[alpha-8-25-02]

first of all,i pray the Lord comforts the families of those who where killed in defense of our liberty.
secondly i don't even look at this trash,because it makes this born again marine vet disgusted.
lastly and more sadly as a child the comics where such a joy,yes i remember the colored pages.
all i can say is "just dam!"

[Heatseeker]

Exactly. According to this Department of Transporation PDF document, the lowest number of road crash fatalities in the past 20 years was 39,250 (in 1992).

EVERY death is a tragedy. But there is such a thing as prospective.

[Monty22]

Is it respectful? Or an insult with a political agenda?

Sadly, the agenda seems to come first. A memorial is needed for this war.. But this seems not to be the place.

[weegee]

Making Sausage - May 26, 2004 By Michael Reagan

Nobody likes to watch sausage being made but we love it when it's finished. We cook it, we embrace it, and we eat it. And we forget the revolting process that produced it.

Watching developments in the war on terrorism and the current Iraq situation as reported by the media is a lot like watching sausage being made. Thanks to the media we see everything that's going on, at least as it is seen through the media's essentially anti-war prism. It gives us 20/20 hindsight that informs us that everybody could do a better job of handing things than the Bush administration and the military are handling them.

[snip]

They want us to see the sausage being made - but they won't show us what it will be like after it's made.

Like the Democrats, the media want to make sure that President Bush will not be re-elected in November and they are willing to undermine the war effort if that's what it takes. They have launched a full court press against George Bush, and they have driven down his poll ratings and created a sense of unease and war weariness among the American people. They are trying to do what they did in Vietnam - help the other side win.

Nice people

[kenth]

He couldn't find room for the young men who gave their lives in Afghanistan? If not, then it's just sanctimonious leftist BS.

As indicated by the protest photo above, the left is not concerned with the lives of our young people in the military. They are using the deaths for political gain. They view the numbers of our guys who died as a counter ticking away bringing them closer to power in the White House.

[JimVT]

I said when I saw the strip yesterday that Trudeau continues to be a two-faced bastard.

I seriously doubt if he ever shed a tear for any one of those folks who gave their lives.

It is just one more piece of political crap.

[300winmag]

Sadly, the agenda seems to come first. A memorial is needed for this war.. But this seems not to be the place.

I must have missed the Doonebury memorials for the 3000 civilians murdered on 9/11. Or the 17 sailors on the Cole. Or the dead from the first WTC bombing, or the African embasies. They were casualties of a war that klinton decided not to fight.

At least the 700+ troops killed in this war had a chance to take their enemies with them, and had the means to fight back. More than can be said for the other poor souls written off by the klintons.

[VaMarVet]

Go figure - the Wash Post did not run this today - they ran instead a "Doonesbury Flashback" (Style - page 3).

[VaMarVet]

Go figure - the Wash Post did not run this today - they ran instead a "Doonesbury Flashback" (Style - page 3).

[R. Scott]

That's something many people tend to ignore.

[R. Scott]

It may not have been an Anti-war message, but a tribute to the dead from our latest war. From “Way Back When“

[NCLaw441]

and don't forget the dead in Afghanistan. These were omitted because America wholeheartedly supported our efforts there. The message from Trudeau is obvious, and it is NOT a message of remembrance, but rather a political statement, made by profiting from the ultimate sacrifice of our brave men and women in Iraq AND Afghanistan. Trudeau should be ashamed, but, of course, the left knows no shame.
God Bless ALL of our Fighting Men and Women, including those lost in ALL of our efforts to maintain freedom.

[endthematrix]

Great posting! I'll stomp on a lefty today, just for you.

[Allegra]

Is it respectful? Or an insult with a political agenda?

Sadly, the agenda seems to come first. A memorial is needed for this war.. But this seems not to be the place.

Considering it's Garry Trudeau, I'm afraid you're right about the agenda.

His reputation precedes him.

[endthematrix]

Again, great post! It's hard to do a follow up on you, weegee!

[FreedomPoster]

What is remarkable is the ability of FReepers to immediately cut through the B.S. and post remarkable commentary. You guys do in the first posts in this thread.