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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > November > 29 > Entry
Ellen Belcher: Mike Peters finds fan in Baghdad
Here’s a Mike Peters story you won’t forget.
Last month, Mike and nine other cartoonists went to Baghdad to entertain the troops.
For Mike, it was the second trip of this sort. On a previous occasion, he and a group of cartoonists went to military hospitals in Germany.
This year they traveled to Walter Reed and Bethesda hospitals near Washington, D.C.; to Ramstein Air Base, where seriously injured military personnel are taken from Iraq; then to staging bases in Kuwait; and finally to Iraq.
During their three days in Iraq, the cartoonists were transported by Blackhawk helicopters to multiple bases around the dusty country.
Some flights lasted an hour; others were longer. Two machine-gunners accompanied them.
Mike said he was hoping the security was just for show, but when he asked about the protection, he was told, “No, sir, we do take fire.”
Enough said.
In the hospitals and at the bases, the cartoonists drew cartoons, caricatures and characters from their comic strips.
(The others on the trip were Kettering’s Chip Bok, formerly of the Akron Beacon Journal; Michael Ramirez of Investors Business Daily; Bruce Higdon of Army Times; Garry Trudeau, creator of Doonesbury; Stephan Pastis of Pearls Before Swine; Rick Kirkman of Baby Blues; Jeff Keane of The Family Circus; Jeff Bacon of Broadside and Greenside; and Tom Richmond of MAD magazine.)
Mike said the number of amputees at the hospitals was stunning.
The enemy’s heavy use of improvised explosive devices in both Iraq and Afghanistan has resulted in thousands of these crippling injuries.
Mike, being Mike, defused tension with humor. When the cartoonists were leaving Germany, they were instructed not to tell passport control that they were on their way to Iraq.
The other cartoonists worried that Mike would spill their destination.
When his turn came to go through customs, Mike quietly asked the sober and stern female officer if she would rush out of her cubicle, shove him up against the wall, then frisk him.
It was quite the spectacle when she indulged him.
Another unnerving moment was the landing in Baghdad. As part of the approach, the pilots do a maneuver known as a “corkscrew” — an evasive tactic designed to make it difficult for anyone to take down a plane.
In Iraq, some military personnel waited in line for hours to meet the cartoonists and get signed drawings from them. Mike said that, to a person, all those he spoke with were ready to come home.
“They say they’ve done all they can do,” he said.
Mike said he was hoping to walk around Baghdad. “During the campaign, John McCain said you could do that,” he quipped. But, of course, that never happened.
The tail end of the trip was the shocker. On the next-to-last day, the men boarded helicopters once again and were taken to Saddam Hussein’s palace. Among other uses, it serves as a place for troops to recuperate after particularly tragic experiences.
Its furnishings are splendor on steroids.
The balconies are carpeted with AstroTurf so that the Iraqi leader and his guests could hit golf balls from their bedrooms into a man-made lake. There’s a vast playground complete with caves, apparently built as consolation for the children of two of Hussein’s sons-in-law, whom he had assassinated.
Upon arriving, Mike learned that a colonel wanted to see him at the end of the day. Mike couldn’t imagine why, but, hey, occasionally he follows orders.
That evening, slightly worried about what would come next, Mike walked in to an ornate office with a sprawling table made with rare wood and marble. In came the colonel with, as Mike tells it, a dossier.
To Mike’s shock, it contained a collection of some 20 “Open Mike” submissions that Lt. Col. Stuart Kidder had penned. (Our “Open Mike” contest is at DaytonDailyNews.com; readers are invited to submit a cartoon caption and then vote for a winner from a list of several finalists.)
Kidder wanted Mike to critique his entries. He had yet to win, and, being a competitive sort, was looking for an edge.
How did Kidder discover “Open Mike”?
Before he left for Iraq in March, he was stationed at Fort Lewis in Washington. The Olympian newspaper also publishes “Open Mike.”
Kidder Googled the phrase and found that “Open Mike” winners receive the original Peters cartoon.
Since then, Kidder, who is 45 and the father of two, has been playing at our site.
Kidder said his entire staff gets in on the fun. Humor keeps them going.
“I’m really a political cartoonist junkie,” Kidder said in a telephone call from Iraq. “I find the guys who do them to be masterful thinkers.”
Referring to Mike, Kidder said, “He is my go-to guy. His politics and mine are not the same on everything. … But they (the cartoonists) are all good Americans.”
I know that you’re not going to believe this, but two weeks ago, Kidder won the “Open Mike” contest fair and square. Cross my heart, his e-mail address wasn’t visible to us when we picked his entry as a finalist, and it really did draw the most online votes.
Now the only problem, Kidder complained, is that he can’t play again for 90 days.
But he’ll be back. It’s great for morale.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Columns, Ellen Belcher
Comments
By Mr. Entertainment
November 29, 2009 8:11 PM | Link to this
I’m surprised that any military person would have anything good to say about Peters.
By Mr. Entertainment
November 29, 2009 8:12 PM | Link to this
I’m surprised that any military person would have anything good to say about Peters.
By Previous winner
November 30, 2009 4:57 PM | Link to this
I guess military people aren’t all Beck/Limbaugh types conservatives. And I guess they have a better sense of humor than “Mr. Entertainment”
By vet
November 30, 2009 9:03 PM | Link to this
overall, good article. was waiting for the anti war sniping and wasn’t disappointed. Hats off to Peters for going there. Now waiting for someone to tell my why my tax dollars are being wasted with a lawsuit by a terrorist who says Navy Seals bloodied his lip. Guys I knew in the SEALS wouldn’t have taken this guy alive.
By John Read
December 1, 2009 12:00 AM | Link to this
Ellen, I publish a small-circulation periodical for and about cartoonists called “Stay Tooned! Magazine.” May I have your permission to print your great post about Mike Peters, a friend and fellow member of the National Cartoonists Society?
By BoxLunch
December 14, 2009 3:16 PM | Link to this
Laughter does help to reduce anxiety and help relieve chronic pain. I think some of our Veterans would enjoy and benefit from a short course in cartooning basics. Sketching, itself, also provides some pain relief. A good therapy tool? Best regards to Mr. Peters.
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January 21, 2010 11:15 AM | Link to this
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By Joey
February 4, 2010 6:05 PM | Link to this
Please retire Mike. I like Rameriez, he can think outside the box and can actually draw well. Mike’s just milking it… coasting and loafing along.
By JT
February 9, 2010 9:55 AM | Link to this
I am glad that Mike finally found a “fan”, too bad he had to go thousands of miles to find him.