Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for December 10, 2011

Wonder how Mel’s counselor would feel about Mel evading the truth.

Evasiveness is one of those useful skills she can transfer to civilian life. If she runs for public office, say.

But remember that with the end of the wars the Pentagon will be cutting back on the number of military personnel. They WILL be mustered out soon.

For some values of ‘soon’.

Yesterday’s strip set us up for today’s.There is a pointed question which both soldier Roz and soldier Mel want to avoid: Where do “we” (i.e., the well-oiled, battle-hardened U.S. wehrmacht) go from here? It’s like the most well-fed, well-trained, battle-hardened royal medieval armored steeds the world has ever seen. Chomping at the bit under the “knight in armor shining” (Roz, Mel, and all the rest of the troops in all services). You can’t just let them stand around in the stables inside the castle walls. They would rot through neglect. Ney! They’re rarin’ to go. If you let them stand around, even though fed and groomed and exercised every day, they will lose their edge. No, you (the king, repping the American voter) must decide what to do with a wehrmacht larger and more sophisticated than the wehrmachts of all the rest of the world combined. (The whispered buzz: Can’t let our wehrmacht go to waste. Must find someone smaller and weaker to 1st demonize, 2nd demoralize, and 3rd attack.) “Iran?” suggests heir-to-the-throne Prince Biden. “Iran!” thunders the king Obama. "Dub that Prince General Biden and Special Envoy of the King! “His first “charm offensive”: convince the Kingdom of Zion to do the dirty work. Let King Netanyahu take the risk of igniting a larger war! So that we can claim ‘plausible deniability’.” “Already ready Sir,” says Netanyahu from his perch on King Obama’s footstool. “We’ve been ready for more than 40 years! We’ll have his nukes and nuke trebuchets neutralized within 24 hours.” “Wait!” cries the Court Jester. “Einstein’s ghost is rising!” And ideed, from it’s marble coffin in its place of honor next to the ornate donjon wall a wavering see-thru figure arises, speaks. The throne room goes silent. Everyone looks, transfixed at the wavering figure of smoky light, the ghost of Einstein, rising, slowly rising. He speaks: “I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” “Bah! Humbug!” shouts the king.

And with that the figure slowly sinks back down into his guilded marble coffin. Now, supposing YOU are King Obama. After King Netanyahu has neutralized Iran’s nukes with his anti-nuke trebuchets, would you give the ominous order. And after King Amadinajad blocks the Strait of Hormuz and the price of horse feed shoots to $40/gal at the feed store, would YOU then give the dread order: “Knights in shining armor, un-stable your steeds! Destroy the worthless leather-armored knights of Amadinajad and their lances of balsam wood with your steel-clad armor and lances of stainless-steel!  Would you? Should Obama?

Get them all hooked on the “American Way”, jobs and toys, and they (like our serfs in the USA) won’t have time to get into trouble. “Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop!” It’s worked here for a century or so, but not so much lately (who benefits most from a ‘lights-out’ factory?) We’ll need the same for all those mustering out.There’s lots to do, much to be repaired and maintained, many energy sources to be changed over to things that won’t drown the small islands and places like Bengladesh (those begging for help in Durban this past week, for a start).The first thing might be to replace money with something less easily stolen by banksters. The floor is open for ideas…

I read a story about a man who called the police as his thought someone had gotten into his attic. When the police climbed the attic stairs, a squirrel landed on one cop’s head. The cop dropped his flashlight which hit the homeowner in the face giving him a bloody nose. The squirrel went tearing though the house with everyone after it. It ran into the fireplace and out again with its tail smoldering. It dove under the sofa and caught the sofa on fire. They threw open the back door, and managed to chase the squirrel out, throwing the burning sofa after it. The homeowner, towel to his face, saw the policemen out. “I really can’t thank you for this,” he said. I am sure the most Iraqis are glad Saddam is gone, but you can hardly blame them for feeling the same way.

bring them home and prepare to fight the “Pacific Mall” (sic) amassing at the northern border (scaly stuff keedz)

The coffee was replaced by expresso this morning.

We saw this at the end of the Viet Nam war. Richard Nixon told America how the economy would be impacted by the return of the troops but the public dried for him to get out boys home at any cost. He did and the economy suffered for it. Our economy is built on government spending. Remember how Ronald Regan stimulated the economy after Carter failed. The only way the economy was stimulated was massive government spending in pseudo war against the Cold War. Our country simply cannot have a viable economy without a war.

We of the “won’t get fooled again” generation stood by and watched while “Dubya” stuck it to our children for personal glory and his cronies (Haliburton, Blackwater, etc) economic benefit. The “occupy” crowd is not going to be willing to go off to war the next time, just because the white-house says so.

Shouldn’t Poets be licensed?

Dylan…I sure wish I had some good stuff like you. You must be getting it uncut. Got any more?

Mel is going to make it just fine. She used the big bad war machine to further her skills. Best thing she could have done for her future. It’s the dark haired chick that worries me.

Pi confuses the medicinal balm carried by the medieval knight with his “balsam wood” spear. The error matches Pi’s reversal of wehrmacht (meaning defense force) to mean an aggressive military.I’d rather listen to Mel’s thoughtful “evasiveness” than to Pi’s christlib pabulum. If instead of coddling the Arabs Bush Senior and Clinton had used our wehrmacht intelligently to ward off Islamist militancy, it might have averted 9/11.Obama is the first president since Eisenhower and Kennedy who has grasped how use of our military properly to strengthen the republic. As he disengages our weary troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, he is preparing for the next confrontation with Iran and Pakistan—-enemies that the christlibs imagine will leave us alone if we just stop “demonizing” them.

@Lee Dawson Whoops, you let the cat out of the bag.

I do appreciate Gary’s take on the with drawl and hopefully can get some to think that maybe don’t ask any of the Troops, “it was worth it.”

Just look them in the eye say, “Thanks and I can’t imagine what you went through for this country..” and maybe a handshake or even a hug.

And yea, certain members of Congress will try to screw them out of promises made. Hopefully the citizens will put a stop to those ideas.

Instead of “transliterating” a German word into its English-sounding equivalent, you should look up Wehr- (defense) in a German dictionary.

At least they won’t have to die because of Obama’s insane “rules of action.”

Sure it’s worth it. Umpteen million people are living under Islam, and a significant fraction want out, but they cannot get out. It takes force to keep them there, so opposite them is a group that uses terror to enforce and spread the repression. We have beaten that force down a bit and given those people hope. They will try to take it further. Until that repression is broken, we will continue to have explosions in their markets and ours.

“Wehr” comes from the verb “wehren,” to defend. “Macht” is the German word for “power” or “force” so “Wehrmacht” means simply “defence force.” Most countries have defence forces and Departments of Defence. If they just did what the titles reflect, there would be a lot fewer wars, although I realize that it only takes one country with a War Department to get the ball rolling and then all hell breaks loose.

We’ve had wars for ten years now and the economy went in the tank anyway.

On the cynical side, Mel’s much more upbeat than I’ve seen her in a while. Deep down she’s glad to get out, and leave everything behind.

Mel and Roz may be confused by the revisionist history they drilled with.

Down by River

Don’t need no Luuu Ann

Hangin’ around …

GOCOMICS !

By “guilded” you probably mean “gilded” unless a guild perhaps constructed or approvved the coffin.Spelling quibbles aside, if you follow Orwel’s thinking, the question is not should we continue to wage war but whom should we choose as allies in the next major war?Can we choose not to continue waging war?

“The war was worth it, until the Liberals got control of it.” CANNIBAL HANNIBAL Trollin’ down da avenueAn’ back inta muh troll boothOn toppa da bridgeWheah Ah godda fridgeWi’ lotsa raw meatsT’ eats.

War is never worth it.

Mc Arthur said “there is no substitute for victory!” Most soldiers feel the same way.

this war has been an absolute shocker – it’s amazing Trudeau can manage a wry smile at all. It’s far worse for the Iraqis, but I’m steeling myself for another wave of loser self-pity, like the one that came after Vietnam. Just as the Vietnamese were near invisible then, so will the Iraqis be now as the US gives itself a good post-stuff-up cuddle.

“If instead of coddling the Arabs Bush Senior and Clinton had used our wehrmacht intelligently to ward off Islamist militancy, it might have averted 9/11.”

And how would an army have warded off Islamist militancy? By attacking Muslim countries? That would sure make them peaceful. How about diplomacy, or intelligent foreign aid (aid that reaches the people, not the oligarchs)?

Oh man, flashback.. Remember coming back from Nam…