A Pulitzer for Doonesbury's war coverage: overdue

I dont get why everyone is giving out about the movies about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, all the best movies about every other war were made years after they had ended. Apocalypse Now was in 1978, platoon in 1986, Full Metal Jacket in 1987. The movies made during the war were equally bad (Green Berets). This is the same with Wrold War 2 and even the gulf war (Three Kings was in 1999)

That is such a good idea. From soldiers in combat, to wounded warriors and veterans, to political decisions (and non-decisions), to the CIA, to women in combat, to warlords, to the families at home. Toggle may be the best new character in decades.

Trudeau has mined these conflicts for their basic human qualities. His coverage has been constant, unrelentingly honest, and so very real. I have enjoyed it, and learned from it.

"... and done more to capture the flavor of the war than almost every movie made about the Iraq conflict."

Geez. That's a low bar.

Seriously, rightists in this country loathe Gary Trudeau. Then again, I do suppose "reality has a well-known liberal bias", especially on issues of war. The center gets caught up in jingoism, and as such the "MSM" so criticized by Republicans is unable to provide the honest picture that its their job to offer.

for the excellent military blogger Michael Yon?

In the kinetic phase of the surge in Iraq in June 2007, there were only two war correspondents to cover the large unit actions taken against Al Qaeda in the belts around Baghdad -- Michael Gordon of the NY Times and Michael Yon.

Tom Ricks? In DC thumbing his rolodex.

His firsthand accounts of the surge were often the only accounts available to citizens who wanted to follow the war but were shut out by the failure of "journalists" to cover the actual combat, preferring instead to coer Congress or the Pentagon.

Yon is now writing stirring accounts of combat in Afghanistan. I share his skepticism on the possibilties for success there.

His books discribed the Persian Gulf War perfectly. I'm sure he is doing the same thing with these.

over the decades.

For those who can, go back to the early strips when BD was in Viet-Nam to see how Mr. Trudeau's work has developed through each conflict.

One can only hope that the feelings and concern his readers have developed for the characters, can be extended to the real flesh and blood soldiers who's pain and trials provide the raw material for the storylines.

Everything else is overdue in this blasted war, so why not the Trudeau Pulitzer?

This week is the eighth anniversary of that great US military victory, the expulsion of al-Qaeda from Afghanistan, which should have had the effect of moving the al-Qaeda case on into the diplomatic and (civilian) police matter it then became. There have been quite a few such foreign police successes since then, but to paraphrase Ambrose Bierce, diplomacy seems to have been felt too hard, and not yet tried.

Instead of getting their merited victory parade, the military in Afghanistan were of course promptly betrayed from Washington by having many of their resources drained to meet the fictional need to invade Iraq.

It continues a source of considerable wonder that the foreign police successes since 2002 seem to remain so little understood in official circles. I guess such successes don't make the kind of headlines the PR-rich military want, but then the war isn't really doing that, either.

Here is an excerpt, quoting Trudeau speaking recently before a group of Vietnam Vets:

"When I talk to wounded veterans, I usually don't ask them what they think the mission was. I don't presume, because their lives are wrenching enough without the suggestion that their sacrifices may have been without meaning. Moreover, if that is so, it will become apparent to them soon enough . . . The young men and women who we've repeatedly put in harm's way are paying the price for this misbegotten mission, and as long as it continues, I, like so many of our countrymen, must walk this strange line between hating the war but honoring the warrior. I don't know how long we can keep it up. . ."

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