Editor's note
David Rees’ Get Your War On appeared on October 9, 2001, less than a month after 9/11 and amidst a virulent epidemic of patriotism. Two days prior, the U.S. had kicked off Operation Enduring Freedom with a bombing campaign in Afghanistan that was received with breathless credulity in the media (The New York Times: “And so it began. With long-range bombers and cruise missiles, the anticipated attack on Afghanistan got under way, the goal being to destroy Osama bin Laden's terrorist training camps and to get rid of his Taliban protectors. ‘Now the Taliban will pay a price,’ President Bush said.”)
The eight initial strips are shocking and delightful in their direct opposition to all of the flag waving nonsense going on back then, specifically targeting the American government’s greatest hits: Jingoistic sloganeering, redirection of billions of dollars at the expense of our domestic institutions and to the benefit of an elite few, and a poorly thought out foreign policy that amounts to “America is Right, it’s the rest of the world that’s wrong.”
The strip continued through the end of George W. Bush’s second administration and did not relent–each is cutting, cynical, and funny. Now, 21 years after “Mission Accomplished”, America has turned inward; the war is at home. But Get Your War On holds up. Swap out the GWB-era references and each is as relevant to our present political climate as it was in 2001. While that’s a little depressing, it’s also encouraging that mocking the US government for its craven, bumbling idiocy is evergreen.
October 19, 2001
March 20, 2003
Comics courtesy David Rees.