I saw a comic in todays papper and was at a loss for a decent
explination (other then being anti-bush and chritsian)
The comic is made by Aarron McGrudder called “The Boondocks”
and may be found (if your viewing from the same day i posted
this at http://www.ucomics.com/boondocks/ )
Ok, so the commic features an American flag and a ribbon
The first frame says:
<The American Flag speaks>
" Ribbon, theres a perfectly reasonable explaination why
George Bush Sr. helped Iraq use chemical weapons against
Iraq."
//forgive me if im mistaken, but doesnt Bush Sr. hate Saddam and
fought against him? my only thoughts is that it could refer to
his days in the CIA anyway, heres next…
Second frame
"At the time, I believe it was referred to as the “Kill them all
and let God sort them out” doctrine
//sumhow i thought that we were opposed to violence in the
mideast dirrectly or indirectly at that time. i must be mistaken
Last frame
<American flag leans twoard the ribbon>
“What, you don’t belive in GOD?!!?!?”
-“I do!! I do!! DON’T HURT ME!!!”
//umm… ok… christian/judaism is now ruling america and
violently forcing the rest of the country to follow? …hmmm
ok, at this point it REALLY lost me i obviously dont know
enough of the politics at present to really understand in-depth
comics like this can sumone please explain in terms a
high-schooler can understand?
-P.K.
It’s more antigovernment than anti-American, in the sense that it points out the the U.S. government routinely uses fairly flimsy justifications to rationalize its dealings with foreign dictators., and any attempt to question those justifications is seen as unpatriotic.
In this particular case, however, I’m going to have to see some evidence that Bush senior “helped” Iraq. It’s conceivable that he gave them information way back in the seventies when he was CIA director and Iran was the villian du jour, but I rather doubt he was personally mailing anthrax letters.
Boondocks often throws in a conspiracy-theory nugget, so I wouldn’t take it too seriously. I’d ignore the anti-Bush crap and concentrate on the joke, such as it is:
Ultrapatriot: I say kill 'em all and let God sort it out.
Skeptic: Well, wait a sec…
Ultrapatriot: What? You don’t believe in God?
Actually, by the time Iraq used chemical weapons in the Iran-Iraq war, Iraq was accepting weapons and aid from the soon-to-collapse USSR, and the U.S. had begun negotiating with Iran, with an eye to supplying them with weapons (leading to the arms-for-hostages “Irangate” scandal). However, it is true that before he started invading other countries, Saddam Hussein was looked upon as a bulwark against religious fervor in the area. The U.S. has never had a problem with “holding its nose” when realpolitik dictates it.
The real point of the comic, of course, is to: (1) point out the opportunistic sea-change in policy between “Saddam, he’s our man” to “Saddam is the antichrist”; (2) to mock the reprehensible tendency of militarists to question the patriotism and decency of those who refuse to “hold their noses.”