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Top generals protest ‘reprehensible’ cartoon
February 2, 2006

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Feb. 2, 2006) -- In a rare letter co-signed by the the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the senior military leaders of the United States objected to a political cartoon published in the Jan. 29 issue of the Washington Post.

Led by Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and signed by the vice chief and the senior officers of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, the letter addressed what the leaders agreed was a “callous” cartoon.

Editorial cartoonist Tome Toles depicted the U.S. Army as a quadruple amputee, attended to by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who lists the patient as “battle hardened.”

The Joint Chiefs agreed the cartoon was offensive. Responding with what they termed a “rare” unanimously signed letter, they said “we cannot let this reprehensible cartoon go unanswered.”

The letter expresses the military leaders’ disappointment with the content, noting that while editorial cartoons exaggerate issues, they believe the cartoon was “a callous depiction of those who have volunteered to defend this nation, and as a result, have suffered traumatic and life-altering wounds.”

“While you or some of your readers may not agree with the war or its conduct, we believe you owe the men and women and their families who so selflessly serve our country the decency not to make light of their tremendous physical sacrifice,” stated the letter.

The letter, printed in the Feb. 2 letters section of the Post, received national media attention.