Toles: Joint Chiefs Letter 'Unique' in His 'Wash Post' Tenure

By: Dave Astor Tom Toles said the letter the six members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sent about his Sunday editorial cartoon was "unique" in his three-plus years at The Washington Post.

When asked if he received strong support from the Post after the angry Joint Chiefs letter was received, Toles replied: "Absolutely." The Post's Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt has defended running the cartoon. Toles said his mail has been running about 50-50 pro and con.

"Since I've been here, I've never received a single comment of any sort from the Bush administration or the military," he told E&P Thursday. Toles also isn't aware of any White House or military correspondence sent to Post executives about his previous cartoons. Hiatt told E&P he has received other letters from the Joint Chiefs, but never all six of them.

This Sunday's cartoon showed a quadruple amputee being visited in a hospital by "Dr. Rumsfeld," who says: "I'm listing your condition as 'battle hardened.'"

In their letter, published today in the Post, the Joint Chiefs said Toles' depiction of the grievously wounded man made light of the "tremendous physical sacrifices" American soldiers are making. Others observed that Toles was actually commenting on Rumsfeld, the state of the Army, and the carnage caused by the Iraq War.

When E&P asked if he thought the Joint Chiefs misinterpreted his cartoon deliberately or accidentally, Toles replied: "I do not believe a fair and careful reader would interpret the cartoon to be making fun of a wounded soldier."

Toles reported getting some reader reaction to the cartoon after it ran Sunday, with the response running roughly half pro and half con. After E&P first wrote about the Joint Chiefs letter Wednesday afternoon before it was published, Toles received "dozens" of other responses -- again, he said, with opinions split about 50-50.

The cartoonist said the Joint Chiefs' criticism will not affect his future work, but added that he did mull over the contents of the letter.

"Any time I receive criticism of any sort, I think about what might and might not be valid in the criticism. I take it seriously," said Toles, a 1990 Pulitzer Prize winner whose work appears in about 200 newspapers via Universal Press Syndicate.