LETTERS: Controversial Cartoons Spark Debate at Home and Abroad

By: E&P Staff Two very different controversial cartoons have sparked intense debate on both sides of the Atlantic this week. While today's letters primarily address the controversial Tom Toles cartoon that ran in Monday's Washington Post, a separate cartoon debate is raging in Europe and the Middle East. That dispute, which is far more vitriolic than even the nasty letters (not printed here) E&P received, centers on a set of cartoons originally published in a Danish newspaper that used the Prophet Muhammad to make a political point some see as offensive. For more on that controversy, see stories here, here, and here. For background on the Toles cartoon, see E&P's report from Wednesday.

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The Joint Chiefs were very right to address a letter of protest to the Washington Post over the Tom Toles cartoon.

This cartoon is profoundly offensive. Yes, we get that he was meaning to criticize Rumsfeld and the political leadership of the Pentagon. But, Toles was incredibly clueless in the way he attempted it.

Can you imagine a cartoon of this nature running during WWII? Not even during Vietnam can I recall something so egregious, tasteless, and stupidly callous.

It is emblematic of the complete ignorance the present day press has of the military, of military life, and of military people. A second smug, privileged generation that has never served and knows not of what it speaks.

It is also emblematic of the "soft treason" average Americans perceive from the media, the kind that comes from the willful ignorance, and smarmy glibness, of our sheltered elites.

Robert Chandler
Beverly Hills, Calif.

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By joining together to send a letter of protest to a newspaper decrying the content of a political cartoon, the Joint Chiefs of Staff have not served their subordinates in the armed services, nor have they upheld the honor and dignity of military personnel. They have debased themselves and demonstrated a fundamental inability to understand the medium they are protesting.

This political cartoon does not make light of the wounds our troops sustain in their service to our flag, it ridicules the cavalier manner in which the Bush Administration has spoken out of one side of its collective mouth about supporting our troops while using the other side to pull VA funding, raise the insurance rates soldiers, sailors, and marines must pay, and otherwise put the lie to the notion that our troops are anything more than agents of political and economic policy.

I am frankly shocked that our nation's highest military commanders have so lowered themselves for so wrongheaded a purpose when indeed their greatest cause to protest is the treatment of their forces at the hands of their Commander-in-Chief.

Eric R. Bassey
Ann Arbor, Mich.

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Callousness Has Its Place, But Not Here

I'm beyond saddened. My mother taught me never, never make fun of a person's disabilities. All soldiers have a future to live for, regardless of race, color, creed, or religion. Over 2,000 gave up their entire futures that we might have one. For many soldiers coming back, not just the ones missing limbs or sight or hearing, they too have lost their future as they envisioned it to be. Filled with doubt, guilt, and anger, especially guilt over losing a buddy they think they could have saved. Guilt that they survived while seemingly better men died. And the men and women who lost part of their bodies? Or multiple parts? Callousness, it can be argued, has its place, but not here friend, not here. And not with them.

Michael J. Patritch

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Thank God someone has the courage to talk about the insanity and horror that we are now participating in. Cartoons may soften the delivery, but we must face what we have become.

Mr. Toles is to be commended for his courage and his vision. Please continue to present your readership with the self-criticism and analysis, which is so critical for change and growth. These atrocities will continue unless people of courage stand and speak out.

Thanks to the Washington Post for printing this cartoon.

Laura Price
Oakland, Maine

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Prophet Muhammad Cartoons

This cuts to the heart of the cultural issue. Are we in the West going to follow our own traditions or will we be intimidated by Moslem violence? If we give in now, there will be no end. I, for one, believe in free speech and democracy. Cartoons are one way of expressing ideas and thoughts. You should post them here.

Susan Schiff

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And I thought the Muslims were out of line for blasting Jyllands-Posten over their cartoons while remaining silent regarding murderous and terrorist acts perpetrated by Muslims. We have become like our enemy.

Barry Grau

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Lose Unsightly Fat Today -- Amputate the Pentagon's Heads

It seems that the gentlemen who signed the letter either failed to understand that the author was not making light of the soldiers -- he was making light of the gentlemen who signed the letter (and their political bosses) -- or the author has struck uncomfortably close to home. If the generals have insufficient reading comprehension to understand the cartoon, perhaps they shouldn't be in charge of dangerous things like war and bombs and stuff. Or perhaps its one of the reasons why things have gone so swimmingly....

John D. Powers

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God save America when the only place to speak the truth is on Comedy Central and in the cartoon pages.

Ronald Klatz

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How ridiculous! As if it weren't clear that the cartoon in no way disparaged soldiers, but instead was a comment on "Rummy" and the boys. That Pace guy must need to protect the administration in the interest of promotion or retirement benefits, in that he also smeared Representative Murtha for expressing an honest opinion. Tell your cartoonist to keep it up! He has the public at large on his side, and there are few who presently represent anything close to the Fourth Estate, so we need him!

Marline Hunt

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An Unfunny Cartoon...

Too bad Tom Toles' cartoon was too hard-hitting and a little too close to home for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Poor babies. But, then, doesn't the truth always hurt?

I'm guessing it doesn't hurt as much as the amputees languishing at Walter Reed hospital.

And to Tom Toles, thanks for some honest cartooning. It's all we have to remind us of the sacrifices these kids have made, when all they wanted was a college education while putting in some time in the National Guard.

Your cartoon covers a subject that the mainstream media refuses to report. Now if we could only get some real reporting regarding the war on Iraq. That would be just too good...we might get spoiled

Dot O'Brien

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Public criticism of political cartoons by the Joint Chiefs of Staff is out of line. Sec. Rumsfeld as the civilian head of the military and the person depicted in the cartoon can write the letter, not the generals. The Post should decline to print the letter, otherwise, where will the generals and the U.S. news media draw the line with respect to the military's oversight of political content and commentary?

Howard Friel
Northampton, Mass.