British Cartoon: The Debagging of Uncle Sam

We came across the cartoon below while researching how the news media abroad was treating the information that was released by WikiLeaks today.  Actually,  we feel that WikiLeaks is just the means by which Julian Assange does his dirty work.  The cartoon was posted in The English Blog.  Surprisingly, we were not offended, as it truly. and ebarassingly so, depicted the state in which our country, represented by our beloved Uncle Sam, now finds itself.  We did think that it was amusing that the cartoon came with an explanation.  Even teen agers are sophisticated enough to interpret a political cartoon.  We recalled the days when our children were in high school, and would have to take a political cartoon to their Government class, with a written explanation about it.

Posted by Jeffrey Hill on November 29, 2010

"This cartoon by Peter Brookes from The Times relates to the leaking to the Guardian and other international media by WikiLeaks of more than 250,000 classified cables from US embassies, many sent as recently as February this year.

Uncle Sam is on what appears to be a stage lecturing a large audience. His trousers (and pants) are around his ankles. In fact, he has just been debagged by the WikiLeaks figure who can be seen running off, laughing wildly.

EXPLANATION

The debagging of Uncle Sam is clearly a metaphor for the embarassing (and exposed) position the US finds itself in following the leaks. (In fact, the Guardian talks about the US world view being laid bare.) Another expression which springs to mind is to be caught with your pants down, which means to find yourself in an embarassing situation you are not prepared for."  Read more here...

The British who should probaby be the most offended by some of the insults revealed in the "Leaks," actually found some humor in it, albeit at our country's expense.  Such was not the case in other parts of the world.  The Arab media has been fairly silent about it.  They don't want it to be known that the U.S. and some of their neighboring Arab countries had actually discussed the possibility of war with Iran and "cutting off the head of the snake."  Obviously many Arab countries don't want to see Iran becoming a nuclear power.

Here in the States, we were  very impressed by former Ambassador John Bolton's rage, when he called the leaking of such sensitive material, "an act of treason that should be punished to the fullest extent of the law."  We agree wholeheartedly. He was emotionally involved in the crisis as are we.

The documents released don't only concern those in the Obama administration.  Some of the accusations go back to the time before he was President.  What is puzzling to us is the reaction of the American media, epecially those who have seemed to be an extension  of his administration.   The American media's reaction to  Assange and the Wikileaks  is a black mark on American journalism.  Is it right for American journalists to compound the injury to American foreign policy by publishing and repeating the secrets revealed in the leaks? 

One journalist writing for The Arena, in Politico.com, asked the question, "How can we be sure that Assange didn't change the wording?" It makes one think, because he could have.  But American journalists are reveling in the scandal.  Even the die hard Obama supporters appear to want to excuse Julian Assange in some way or another.  On the Today Show this morning, Matt Lauer twice labeled theWikileaks website as only a "messenger"  for the documents.

Does Mr. Lauer mean to imply that had NBC been offered the ability to release the secret documents they would have done so, regardless of the damage it would do to their country and their government, particularly the Obama administration?   ABC's George Stephanopolous wondered if the release of the secret documents wasn't perhaps "information that the public should have."  It might come as a surprise to some of these headline seekers  that both CNN and The Wall Street Journal were offered the opportunity to publish the same material, and they discreetly declined. 

Politico's David Mark interviewed former NSC Official Elliott Abrahms on how responsibly the media is acting with regards to WikiLeaks, and what security precautions the U.S. government must take.  The interview can be read here.....and Two Sisters highly recommend it.

We've spent the last two years over exposed to Barack Obama's arrogance, and this scandal could have the possibility of humbling him a bit.  However, in spite of our opposition to him, and his Administration we reiterate once more  that we are Americans first.  What hurts our country hurts us - All of us!   We wish we'd never heard of WikiLeaks or Julian Assange.

Some believe that Assange is "not anti American," he's just "anti war."  We disagree.  In all of our years, we don't recall a more catastrophic scandal for our country, as it involves not just us, but world leaders and diplomats throughout the world. Julian Assange is an evil man.

As Assange releases  damaging videos of the war in Iraq on You Tube, we pray for the safety of our troops who are serving in that hostile land to keep our nation free, and to insure that we all have the  Constitutional  privilige to responsibly  abide by the rights granted to us in the First Ammendment.  

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