After writing to the cartoonist, to complain about his
cartoon in which he portrayed a reporter as holding the soldiers who questioned Rumsfeld on a leash, I had forgotten about it until I received an email this morning from Chuck Asay.
Hmm, that name sounds familiar, I thought, but I couldn't place it until I read the email. This was his response to the many disgruntled readers (mostly Kossians, I assume) who emailed him:
Whew! The cartoon I drew on Mr. Pitts using the soldiers to play "gotcha" with Mr. Rumsfeld continues to draw heavy fire. I always try to respond individually to those who write to me but in this case, I'm going to have to respond with a general
message. It seems almost everyone who is upset with the cartoon, believe I have slighted all the troops in Iraq. That, of course, was not the intention. I agree with you all that they are serving us well, for the most part, and are engaged in a
difficult and noble task. They are trying to save innocent people from terrorist attacks and are working toward freeing the Iraqi people from tyranny. I support that objective. I'm not attacking anyone's patriotism here, but most of those I have
heard from seem to be against the Bush administration's use of the troops in Iraq. There is a huge divide, as you probably agree, in whether or not our troops can be successful in their mission. My hope is that they can, others are more doubtful.
The focus of the cartoon was Mr. Pitts and the two soldiers he seemed to have thought were his to use to get Rumsfeld. (This is not a guess, his motivation was revealed in his self-serving e-mail he wrote to his friends) I thought the question
the soldier asked was a good one, regardless of the source. Everyone, including those in the Bush administration, want to see the soldiers have the best possible protection we can provide. To suggest otherwise is just not true. It is my belief
that in supporting the troops, Americans need to be united in their goals. Many see Iraq as another Vietnam, I hope it is not, but we could make it so if we chose to bring them home before their task is completed. The gotcha game many in the media
are playing with the administration is far more dangerous to our troops than lack of armor. All the terrorists have to do is survive and wait till the public grows tired of the war and pressure the politicians to bring the troops home. They win,
everyone else loses. We can disagree, we can question the war and the tactics being used but the war we are engaged in is deadly. The enemy is not Iraqis, Saudis, etc., in my view, it is with an idea. Osama and others believe it is a good thing
to kill innocent people to rid the world of Jews and those who believe they have a right to exist. That is an idea that should be resisted, as was an idea called Nazism during WWII. My hope is that we can succeed in resisting that idea. I hope,
also we can agree on that.
Thanks for your comments. Best wishes, Chuck
Well, he didn't apologize--I think he still doesn't understand what was so objectionable about his cartoon--and obviously we would all disagree with him that the media's questioning is more dangerous than the troops' lack or armor, but at least he recognized our complaints and took the time to respond and try to find some common ground. I was surprised to hear back from him and wanted to post the letter for the Kossacks who have been following the story.