Get Your War on 2

After completing a tour of duty in Afghanistan, I read David Rees' "Get Your War On" and was not overly impressed; I wrote a decidedly unenthusiastic review of the book. I read that book's follow-up, "Get Your War On II" about two years later, after completing a tour in Iraq. Either Rees' writing has gotten sharper, or I just became more receptive to his work, because I think that GYWO2 is brilliant. This book of cartoons maintains the general format and style of its predecessor, and also follows up on the original's subject matter. The cartoons generally depict a bunch of anonymous white-collar office drones who discuss the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as other topics from early 21st-century headlines. Rees has crafted a richly ironic volume of political satire that is full of profanity and scathing dialogue. Nobody is safe--along the way his nameless characters mock George Bush, Tony Blair, Halliburton, Fox News, Fidel Castro, Condoleezza Rice, Joe Lieberman, _The New York Times_, Ahmad Chalabi, Tom Daschle, North Korea, Pat Robertson, Ted Koppel, and many other entities. Rees covers many topics: gang rape, abortion, genocide, anthrax mailings, the search for WMDs in Iraq, political saber-rattling over steroid abuse, the 9/11 commission, the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, proposed designs for the new World Trade Center, and more. Adding to the pungent flavor of the book are the characters' many absurd pop culture references--Paris Hilton, 2 Live Crew, _Tiger Beat_, _The Family Circus_, etc. It's all made even funnier by the generally bland appearances of Rees' characters. Rees is at his best when he is deconstructing and reshaping the jargon and catchphrases of the post-9/11 U.S.: "Axis of Evil," "Coalition of the Willing," "Freedom Fries," and many more. He offers a lacerating meditation on the use of language as a propaganda tool. His characters exchange some harsh and thought-provoking comments on language--I love it when one drone chides another, "Parsed much?" Although most of the characters are his typical anonymous office workers, this book also features "Uzbekikitty," an absurd yet tragic metaphor for U.S. coalition building in the War on Terror. At times Rees also plays with and mocks his own format. Among his routines in the book is a series of biting knock-knock jokes. Despite the humor of the book, I consider it a serious interrogation of the language, icons, orthodoxies, and pieties of the post-9/11 era. Rees doesn't just slaughter America's sacred cows--he drops a nuclear bomb on them. GYWO2 could serve as a scalding counterbalance to the many inspirational and heroic narratives that have been spun from the Global War on Terror. For a great companion text I recommend "Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq," by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber.

Just like the first Get Your War On, this collection made my day. This book is perfect for people with a short attention span and left leaning politics.

During 9/11 and the subsequent invasion in Afghanistan, David Rees was a temporary employee at Martha Stewart Omnimedia (Probably not the best place for a long term career). He then started a cartoon strip that has been called the intelligent response to the War on Terrorism. Anyone who has ever worked in a cubicle will immediately identify with these cubicle denizons who spend their life on the phone solving the world's problems. The book, printed in the signature red ink it is a collection of cartoons that would otherwise be lost in the day to day trash with the newspaper. And for those who don't live where this strip is available, here is a single dose of wisdom on the Antrax scare, sovereignty in Iraq, and more.

. . . a bagfull of monkeys drafting foreign policy. And the most straightforward political commentary since Tom Paine. On speed. If you have even one cynical bone in your body (you know -- that sense of slightly defeatist but NOT defeat-ED humor that's produced when you actually perceive the breadth of incredible social possibility utterly pulped by realpolitik "reality"), GET THIS BOOK. You will laugh 'till you pee. And you'll register to vote again the very next day. Three times, probably. Guarantee it.

David Rees has done it again--provided us with just the sharp-edged comic relief we need in troubled times. He did it with Afghanistan in the first Get Your War On, and this book is even funnier, more ambitious as it tackles Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, and George W. Bush.