Cartoon Depicts U.S. Military As Child Killers

Photo of Noel Sheppard.

Last Saturday, NewsBusters shared a truly disgraceful Ted Rall cartoon that depicted a United States soldier as a suicide bomber.

On Friday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in its "Cartoons From Around The World" section, featured a rather revolting "comic" by German cartoonist Rainer Hachfeld. In it, a panel showed children in Afghanistan shooting toy guns playfully at an American military plane, with panel two dramatizing the same plane attacking the kids with gunfire clearly hitting one as the other ran screaming for cover.

How delightful.

As this is the property of cartoon syndicator Daryl Cagle, copyright laws prevent unauthorized distribution. However, as the above link indicates, Hachfeld's piece was also published at Cagle's MSNBC.com webpage.

NewsBusters' member Saw the Light, who forwarded this piece to me, made the following sage observations about the cartoon which he has given me permission to share:

With the railing on Haditha and the elevation of Kerry and Murtha, this view fits the template of many of the leftists who view the military with scorn and hatred...The reaction of the media is that they are guilty of crimes to make My Lai look like an afternoon at the park.

I quite agree, and concur with STL's further explanation of the cartoonist's message: "One, the US sees everything as a threat and is too quick to respond with deadly force. Two, the US military has no regard for innocents in any way, killing wantonly without any reservation."

That about says it.

In the end, this is a German cartoon. However, that an American newspaper, and one of the leading American news websites, would disseminate it speaks quite loudly about how our press views those risking their lives to protect this nation and all it stands for...including the media's rights under the First Amendment.

I need to go scrub my hands and this keyboard of this despicable vision, for it makes me wonder how people who publish this invective can possibly be citizens of the same country I call home.

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.


Comments Policy

All comments are owned by whoever posted them and are subject to our terms of use. They should not be assumed to represent the views of NewsBusters.

Viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Painful lack of sagacity from these folks...

If US forces truly had "no regard for innocents in any way, killing wantonly without any reservation," both Afghanistan and Iraq would be over by now. It is our admirable unwillingness to be as barbaric as the enemy that is drawing out each conflict.

Correct

How can the Left be so proud of their conclusions yet be so wrong in their premises?

This cartoon represents the disconnect of the Left with reality.  Absolutely hideous and pornographic. 

GIGO = Garbage In, Garbage Out

propaganda

More propaganda from the left who accuse the Bush administration and conservatives of disseminating propaganda.

The left lies, millions die.

D

I don't support our liberals or their mission.

This is beyond despicable,

This is beyond despicable, this is horrendous that this is even on a network chatroom/web page or what ever trash it is called...you would think there would be an uproar from the readers of the St. Lois Dispatch at least...cancellations of the paper, but then again maybe all they have left are leftist readers. 

I wished with all my heart msnbc would be gone.

Filthy, pure filth.

Uproar

you would think there would be an uproar from the readers of the St. Lois Dispatch

BT, you would think, but I really doubt it will be the case.  The reason?  The city of St. Louis and some surrounding areas are heavily democratic.  Letters to the editor are heavily slanted to the left.  Now this may be because the editors choose them, but it also may be representative of what they receive.

Many conservatives have stopped reading the paper out of exasperation at the overtly liberal bias on the editorial page.  The paper was founded by Joseph Pulitzer, and his words are the platform of the editorial page.  They are:

"I know that my retirement will make no difference in its cardinal principles, that it will always fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, always fight demagogues of all parties, never belong to any party, always oppose privileged classes and public plunderers, never lack sympathy with the poor, always remain devoted to the public welfare, never be satisfied with merely printing news, always be drastically independent, never be afraid to attack wrong, whether by predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty."

I guess they technically do not belong to the dimocrat party, but they might as well.  The only reason I still read it is to keep up on local news and sports.  I simply shake my head and laugh when I see their editorial positions.  I'll go out on a limb and say they will endorse either Hillary or Obama for president and Jay Nixon for Mo. Governor.

"There is a tendency for the world to say to America, 'the big problems of the world are yours, you go and sort them out,' and then to worry when America wants to sort them out." - Prime Minister

stl... Thanks for that

stl...

Thanks for that world of info. I enjoyed it.

The papers are the same all over, we have leftists rags around here too.

Btw...You are very safe on that limb you climbed out on I would think anyway.

Endorsements

Yes, the limb is very strong.  It's amazing that my union and the Post endorse an almost exact slate. 

divisive media

Although we may be far from civil disengagement, it is the leftist media and rogue liberal congressional leaders who will continue to divide the nation until we falter. Faltering may not be dissolution, but it will be painful and wrought with horrors normally attributed to lesser civilized societies.

This thought is spurred by the above comment that it is hard to believe this would be published by fellow citizens, our own neighbors, our own brethren. From what well did the dire hatred for the USA come from? I have problems digesting the detest and hatred people have for their own country, my country.

Troop Support

This must be what liberals mean when they say "We support our brave men and women in the military".

If there are responsible libs left, it's time to quell the loons

If we were such wanton killers of the innocent, why not just nuke the whole Middle East and be done with it?  Simple.  We are NOT that kind of people.

The left can't decide if we are bad parents who recklessly endanger our military, who apparently need to be protected like five year olds, or a country which sends jackbooted, Gestapo-like thugs to defenseless civilian populations to rape and pillage.

The left, at least the ones who speak out these days, are getting more and more disgusting all the time.  We keep calling on moderate Muslims to reign in the extremists.  It's time that rank and file liberals shut down their rabid activists.  Unless these nuts ARE the rank and file libs.

When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.

Aha!  This is ever-so-much

Aha!  This is ever-so-much closer to what I saw coming down the tracks in the Ted Rall thread.  Only this one isn't US citizens calling our soldiers baby killers. . .

 

. . .at least not yet.  Give it another week or so.  >;)

-PJ

"Trake: Your lofty convictions are another blemish on the rump of congregational sectarianism." -Tumbler 5/15/07 

Is anyone here surprised?

Noel - my mantra has been to rile against the cowardly media, and this is yet another example. "But, we just published another's . . . WE didn't draw the cartoon, THEY did." - The cowards who have this distructive agenda will NOT take any personal responsibility for their actions, are driven by an apparent agenda to debase and help with the downfall of this great country - AND as stated befor, are COWARDS in as much as they cannot admit what they are doing.

Part of being a coward, IMO, is being stupid. Sure, they can write, but can they think on their own? Haven't proved it so far. Have they looked beyond their own prejudices and bias? Don't think so - had they, and been honest with their results, they'd be showing Iraq as a country that is slowly, very slowly, getting a handle on democratic thought and actions. These dim bulbs, in the msm (Lsm) don't have any perspective of what history is, other then what they've experienced since they were born - Hey, dimwits, there were things happining before you were born, y'know!

Finally, had these "journalists" actually reported, fairly and objectivly, as they say they do (see Diane Sawyers shock at laughter) they wouldn't just report the bad, but would also show that there are bright spots in the world, especially Iraq, and that the work of our military, the despised warriors who let them speak and publish their slanted tripe, is for the good of all, not just a "feel good" foreign policy.

Once again, if ther is any "biggie" in the msm (Lsm) who has any stones, please identify yourself and stand up for what YOU believe in - here - on this board. There are plenty others who would like to "discuss" what you are doing WRONG. - Oh, and Iraq, your present "reporting", being slanted as it is, is a self fulfilling prophacy - BUT we know that, so nice try - unfortunately, there are too many others who haven't learned that yet - but they will.

There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V

Fast Ed

Personal responsibility is something liberals refuse to admit exists!  Victims...that is all we ever hear from their lips or pens...finger pointing (I didn't do it - it's always someone else's fault) and being a victim.  Makes one want to puke...and so early in the morning...darn!

 Divide and conquer...or as Kruschev warned us...we will be destroyed by the enemy within.  Looks like he was a good tea leaf reader after all.

I believe within 5 years the world of journalism as we know it now will be just a memory...newspapers and news mags and, yes, even the msm will be long gone.  As our electronic growth has developed so rapidly in the few years since we first learned those three little letters - www. - it won't be long before these "know-it-alls" will be "has-beens" and our world will be a much better place!!!!

They will duck taking

They will duck taking responsibility by saying we didn't draw it we just report it.

Do you remember the uproar in Europe over the anti-mohemmed cartoon?  Do you remember that the MSM here would NOT print the cartoon (where was their 'just reporting' it then)?

Supreme Court,  National Security,  Borders,  Fiscal Restraint, my litmus test for President.