‘Doonesbury’ Guest Artist Under Fire

Today’s “Doonesbury” comic strip, drawn by an airman stationed in Saudi Arabia and critical of conditions for enlisted troops in the Persian Gulf, has raised questions of taste and led at least one newspaper to pull the Garry Trudeau cartoon.

The controversial strip, titled “Living in Purgatory,” is a dose of dark humor that depicts a macabre side of life on the war front. The strip, which includes cartoons drawn by an unidentified airman who uses the pen name “Zorro,” criticizes slow mail delivery, hazardous bus transportation and the Pentagon’s no-rotation policy.

At least one newspaper, the Naples (Fla.) Daily News, pulled the strip, replacing it with a drawing of an American flag.

“I saw (the cartoons) and was offended,” said editor Alan Horton.

Other papers, including the Los Angeles Times, noted that the strip had been received and sent to outside printers several weeks ago, before the outbreak of war, when its content appeared in a different light.

Times spokeswoman Laura Morgan said the guest drawings “reflect a tradition of dissent in the ranks of the American services and, as such, caught Garry Trudeau’s eye. The timing is unfortunate and we regret it if anyone was offended. “

In Kansas City, Mo., Lee Salem, editorial director for Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes “Doonesbury,” said that by late Friday the Florida newspaper was the only one of about 600 Sunday subscribers that said it planned to pull the strip.

Salem added that he had received a number of calls from newspapers wanting to verify that the strip was actually drawn by a U.S. airman. Others, he said, “questioned whether the viewpoint of the strip would hold up now that we’ve gone to war.”

“Zorro” is an airman who wrote to Trudeau, and the cartoonist responded, seeking permission to use the drawings, Salem said.

In his view, he said, “The humor is still valid. I think the soldiers’ perspective is still valid.”

Jerry Ceppos, managing editor of the San Jose Mercury-News, which is carrying the cartoon, said, “I think it’s interesting that, because of the way the military is handling these things, we’re learning more about life on the front from the cartoon than from the Pentagon.”

Humor and war can go together, Ceppos said, and “it’s probably a good outlet for all of us. ‘Doonesbury’ doesn’t poke fun at the serious parts of what we’re doing. What he’s saying is, ‘Geez, try to understand what it’s like out there for us.’ ”