Joint Chiefs Fire At Toles Cartoon On Strained Army

[norml]

Joint Chiefs Fire At Toles Cartoon On Strained Army

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 2, 2006; Page C01

In a protest with an unusual number of high-level signatures, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and each of its five members have fired off a letter assailing a Washington Post cartoon as "beyond tasteless."

The Tom Toles cartoon, published Sunday, depicts a heavily bandaged soldier in a hospital bed as having lost his arms and legs, while Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, in the guise of a doctor, says: "I'm listing your condition as 'battle hardened.' " Toles said he meant no offense toward American soldiers.

The letter to The Post, signed by Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the vice chairman and the service chiefs of the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force, said: "We 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 . . .

"While you or some of your readers may not agree with the war or its conduct, we believe you owe the men and women and their families who so selflessly serve our country the decency to not make light of their tremendous physical sacrifices." The letter, which a reporter obtained from the Pentagon, is being published today.

The cartoon is based on remarks that Rumsfeld made last week. In rejecting warnings by a Pentagon-sponsored study that the Iraq war risks "breaking" the Army, he said the U.S. military is "battle hardened" and an "enormously capable force." At the bottom of the cartoon, in smaller type, Rumsfeld says: "I'm prescribing that you be stretched thin. We don't define that as torture."


snip


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/01/AR2006020102465.html

[and-justice-for-all]

1. Watch this!!!!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2023320890224991194&q=9%2F11
If you have not seen this..THEN WATCH IT!!!

[saigon68]

11. Peter Pace = Catamite to the NeoCons

Gets on his knees

They need more not less SARCASM

[MADem]

2. Whassamatta with Rummy? He couldn't bitch the guy out himself?

Had to get Petey to do the dirty work for him??? Wuss!!!!!!!

PLEASE--Tom Toles should redo the cartoon, and include the fucking Joint Chiefs in the frame as orderlies holding bedpans...

But this is TYPICAL of this administration. The cartoonist is taking a shot at, and making a DIRECT HIT, on Rummy, but they choose to focus on the wounded soldier in the bed, as though that is the issue...who caused those soldiers their grievous wounds, after all? Let's START with the sumbitches who sent them marching off to war!

[saigon68]

22. "the fucking Joint Chiefs in the frame as orderlies holding bedpans"

Saw these ass-clowns on ABC News last night.

They were pathetic

They don't give one shit about sending their subordinates off to be killed
Or to try to make the people in their charge safe

THEY ARE FUCKING ASSWIPES

[MADem]

24. See, this is EXACTLY what Murtha was bitching about

You raise a VALID point, and they come back at you with sound bites and bullshit rhetoric. You provide substantive criticism, and they start whining that you are unpatriotic or a "meanie."

The country is catching on, though. Even the conservatives are griping, and it is well past time.

[TaleWgnDg]

3. And, here's the Toles cartoon for Sunday, January 29, 2006 . . .

.

.

[rooboy]

4. Standard tactic - deliberately misrepresent the story & act offended. n/t

[saigon68]

12. And gloss over these Heroic defenders of FREEDOM

[radfringe]

5. hee hee

they couldn't have done anything better than to protest the cartoon..

if it flurries into rhetoric about bein outraged - the toon will get even more coverage... a picture is worth a thousand words

[Army]

6. Real Problems Ignored

They have shortages because noone reenlists and their solution is to promote everyone regardless of merit and raise the bribes, uh, bonuses higher and higher. It still isn't working because soldiers know what is going on is not what they signed up for.

Instead of addressing the real problems (oil wars, for example) they choose to sign a letter criticizing a cartoon. Un-freaking-believable.

[fasttense]

7. Come on now, they are objecting to a political cartoon.

What are they going to object to next, that books are still being written, that the NYT is still in print? Maybe what they should be objecting to is the lack of equipment, troops and VA medical care for the troops. There's a thought, maybe they should be more concerned for the troops than for political careers.

[Cocoa]

8. Disabled Vets supports Toles

Dave Autry, deputy communications director for Disabled American Veterans, said he was "certainly not" offended by the cartoon.

"It was graphic, no doubt about it," he said. "But it drove home a point, that there are critically ill patients that certainly need to be attended to."

[SpiralHawk]

9. The cartoon slams Rummy and the PNAC neoCONS, not our soldiers

The Pentagon is just catapulting propaganda here -- distorting the message of the cartoon, which in my view is altogether sympathetic to our troops.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

14. You have to be brain damaged NOT to see it that way.

And the WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHmbulance riders know that perfectly.

[DemonFighterLives]

10. The cartoon is not offensive to me

It is the generals and Von Rumsfeld who are offensive.

Besides, it was only a flesh wound- Monty Python

[freefall]

13. Open letter to the JCS

To General Pace, Admiral Giambastini, General Shoomaker, General Hagee, Admiral Mullen and General Moseley,

Officers:

I was extremely disappointed to see your letter published today, February 2, 2006, in the Washington Post. I believe you have done a grave disservice to your fellow citizens and your Services' reputations by blindly following your civilian leadership and sending those who have volunteered to defend this nation off to fight an ill advised, illegal, immoral war with too few numbers to accomplish your nefarious mission and without the appropriate body armor and supplies. And since none of you have had the guts to jeopardize your careers by speaking out against the folly of your civilian leadership you must bear responsibility for the deaths of 2,200+ US service members and tens thousands of innocent Iraqis, the maiming of unknown tens of thousands of US service members and innocent Iraqis, the dangerous weakening of the US military and the destruction abroad of the reputation of the United States.

I believe you owe the men and women and their families who so selflessly serve our country the decency to put their lives and physical sacrifices ahead of your career goals."

[saigon68]

15. Nice letter

I doubt it will affect them since they are presently giving Rumbdumb and his fellow NeoCons a "Good Morning Fellating"

[atreides1]

16. As I've Said Before

The JCS is nothing more then the Bush version of Hitler's Generals, and Pace is even more of an ass kisser then his predecessor.

Most of the generals and admirals currently serving are more concerned with their careers, then with the troops that they command.

And those that support BushCo, those civilians that think this is just great have less brain activity then someone in a vegitative state.

[tanyev]

17. Gen. Pace, I believe you need to learn how to laugh.

Pentagon to families: Go ahead, laugh
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
When the stress of the war in Iraq becomes too severe, the Pentagon has a suggestion for military families: Learn how to laugh.

With help from the Pentagon's chief laughter instructor, families of National Guard members are learning to walk like a penguin, laugh like a lion and blurt "ha, ha, hee, hee and ho, ho."

No joke.

"I laugh every chance I get," says the instructor, retired Army colonel James "Scotty" Scott. "That's why I'm blessed to be at the Pentagon, where we definitely need a lot of laughter in our lives."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-01-12-pentagon-laughter_x.htm

[IndianaGreen]

20. Pace is Rumsfeld's subservient lapdog

His faux outrage at the cartoon should have better been directed at the way the military is being decimated by the failed policies of the Bush dictatorship.

[saigon68]

23. PET HIM BEHIND THE EARS

He is the Lap Dog of the Bush Dictotor ship

[Kolesar]

18. US officers are generally republican

This is a political letter
edit: I heard this story on the radio at the top of the hour and searched it out here.

[daleo]

19. It is like criticizing Piccasso over Guernica

Because he made the air raid victims look so weird.

[Barrett808]

25. Remember that the UN removed Guernica before the Iraq invasion

It was embarrassing to have Picasso editorializing behind Gen. Powell during press conferences.

[daleo]

26. Excellent recall

That pretty well sums up the whole sorry enterprise.

[Barrett808]

30. Yes, sadly. n/t

[Laelth]

21. Back off, brass!

These folks are agents of the Federal Government of the United States. They have no business telling a newspaper what it can or can not print. Look out folks. They're attacking the 1st Amendment more brazenly than ever now.

:scared:

-Laelth

[wordpix2]

27. neoCONS can't stand it when you remind nation of deaths and injuries

[redqueen]

28. He's not making light of their sacrifice...

he's making light of asinine statements that evil Rumsfeld said. And they know it.

How many other cartoons use images like that? And they don't get the full-court press.

I think they may be getting worried...

[GodlessBiker]

29. Those who object to this cartoon should meet those who object . . .

to the Muslim cartoons, and then they can all get over it together.

[NightHawk63]

32. Right on GB! (nt)

[brentspeak]

31. I like how they deliberately misrepresent Toles' cartoon

They know the target of the cartoon is Rumsfeld, but they claim that it "makes light" of the troops' injuries. The whole point of the cartoon is that doesn't make light of the troops.