Joint Chiefs Protest a Cartoon

Editor & Publisher:

A Tom Toles editorial cartoon published in The Washington Post on Monday and on its Web site has drawn a very rare and very strong protest letter to the editors from all six members of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, E&P has learned.

The letter, written on Tuesday, charges that the six military leaders “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. … As the Joint Chiefs, it is rare that we all put our hand to one letter, but we cannot let this reprehensible cartoon go unanswered.” | story (Broken by AMERICAblog)

Truthdig says: Well, despite the fact that Toles has a valid satirical point to make about the Pentagon’s overextension of troops in the field, we have to wonder: With the insurgency gaining strength every day, and reconstruction efforts crippled by high-level incompetency, this cartoon is what’s upsetting our nation’s military leadership?