Below is the latest The Pain -- When Will It End?
Updated 04/02/03
Artist's Statement
This war has exposed the weird combination
of arrogance and naiivete of our leaders, who actually appear to have believed
their own propaganda and thought that Iraqui civilians would welcome our army.
"Operation Iraqi Freedom." They really thought it was going to be
World War II all over again, with pretty French chicks handing out flowers.
But it turns out that there are limits to the power of spin, and just calling
ourselves "liberators" doesn't make us anything other than invaders.
Setting the last panel in Baltimore is not just a tribute to my hard-drinking
Baltimore friends but a reference to the bombardment of Fort McHenry in the
War of 1812 (the occasion of the writing of our national anthem)--a reminder
that we ourselves were once a defiant backwards nation who prided ourselves
on repelling the invading army of the most powerful Empire on earth with unfair
guerilla tactics, instead of a bunch of fucking assholes.
The building being destroyed in the
E.U.'s surgical missile strike is the National Air and Space Museum.
Special thanks to Myla Goldberg and Jason Little for lending me the special
pens I needed at short notice yesterday morning.