Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for December 10, 2011
December 09, 2011
December 11, 2011
Transcript:
Roz: So, Mel, when you get home and people ask you whether it was all worth it, what will you say? Melissa: I'll say sure, the Army got me squared away, made me more disciplined and focused... plus I've got GI Bill benefits and a useful set of skills I can transfer to civilian life. Roz: I meant the war. Melissa: I know you did. I was practicing my evasiveness.
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?