I always find it fascinating to take a quick peek at how cartoonists across the world handle big news events. Obviously, the death of Osama bin Laden has been the biggest news story of the year, so nearly every cartoonist has their own take and spin on it.
Here are some cartoons by the great South African cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, who goes by the pen name ‘Zapiro‘ (view more cartoons by Zapiro). You might remember his cartoon about Lady Justice getting raped by South African president Jacob Zuma. One of his trademarks is to draw Zuma with a shower head coming out of his skull, after Zuma revealed during his rape trial that he had sought to prevent himself from contracting HIV by showering after having sex with his accuser.
Zapiro’s cartoons about bin Laden’s death are interesting, viewing the events from a different perspective than an American cartoonist might. His first cartoon is the most “American,” showing bin Laden’s face as one of the twin towers:
Next, Zapiro chose to draw his own conflicted thoughts about the bin Laden mission and the larger meaning of his death:
Finally, he places bin Laden’s death in the context of the “Arab Spring” movement that is washing out dictators throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa:
We just posted out big cartoon slideshow featuring the best political cartoons of the week. Obviously, the news of the death of Osama bin Laden dominated the news, and cartoonists were able to focus on multiple aspects of the story: everything from the bravery of the Navy Seals team to the possible duplicity of Pakistan.
Like every other cartoonist, my week has been consumed with the death of Osama and Abbotabad, the location of the sprawling complex in the suburbs of Islamabad where bin Laden hid. How did Pakistan not know bin Laden was there? Them must have been out cashing our $1.5 billion check:
One of the more peculiar aspects of the bin Laden story is the fact that we buried his body at sea:
It took long enough to find Osama. Luckily, he gets special treatment:
Even if Obama had decided to release bin Laden’s death photos, the birthers still wouldn’t be satisfied:
After the announcement late Sunday night by President Obama that we finally found and killed Osama bin Laden, people poured out into the streets to celebrate. Even the most die-hard partisans, like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, gave credit to Obama and his administration, calling his actions a “gutsy move.”
But a couple of our more conservative cartoonists decided not to go the same route, and voiced their opinions about the credit being heaped President Obama’s way. The first, by Gary McCoy, rips Obama for the so-called “leadership” he exhibited in the strike, basically says all the President had to do was tell his team “okie dokie” to get the job done.
Gary McCoy / Cagle Cartoons (click to view more cartoons by McCoy)
Here are some of our readers’ comments about McCoy’s cartoon:
cf: “After 8 years of Republicans looking for Bin Laden in the wrong place, Obama tries looking *somewhere else* and finds him almost immediately. And now Republicans just can’t admit that a *gasp* Liberal *gasp* accomplished something that they never could.”
PoliticalMangu: “I guess this is the typical conservative response to Obama’s actions on just about anything. Too bad we can’t even celebrate together.”
D.C. Wilson: “It must cause wingnuts physical pain to admit Obama accomplished anything.”
Chris Carveth: “That’s what we fight for -freedom of the press. Agree or disagree…just be willing to defend the process.”
Rosie Felci: “Even Cheney is giving Obama props for it all. Guess even he now recognizes what “Mission Accomplished” looks like.”
The second cartoon was drawn by Brian Fairington, and was actually one of the first cartoons about Osama’s death that our syndicate received. In it, Fairrington wants to make sure Obama doesn’t hog all the credit, and reminds readers about the contributions he feels George W. Bush made in hunting down Osama:
Brian Fairrington / Cagle Cartoons (click to view more cartoons by Fairrington)
And here are some reactions from readers about it:
mth44sc: “”I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea&really don’t care.It’s not that important.It’s not our priority.” – G.W. Bush, 3/13/02″
JacksonW: “How crass. The man isn’t dead 24 hours and he’s already being used to divide us. The end of the life of the mastermind of 9/11 should bring us together, not be used for petty political points.”
GroovyDave1962: “I disagree. The intelligence came in last August. IIRC Bush was not in office then. At best you might split it 50/50. Bush put the boots on the ground, but President Obama led them to success.”
ejg2: “Clinton tried, was unable. Bush simply didn’t. Obama did. Case closed.”
What do you think? Are these cartoons fair or foul? Comment below, or chime in on our Facebook page or Twitter:
By now, everyone knows that Osama Bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11 tragedy, has been killed in Pakistan in an operation conducted by American military forces and the CIA. Cartoonists have been gunning for the reclusive terrorist for years, and have drawn many, many cartoons about him.
