Below is the latest The Pain -- When Will It End?
Updated 12/04/02

Artist's Statement

A very silly cartoon. As soon as I heard a reporter refer to the"Chief Inspector" in Iraq, it became inevitable. Sorry. I would not be shocked if in fact our inspectors did turn up some evidence of chemical weapons or got into a confrontation that would morally oblige us to topple Hussein's regime and replace him with a puppet tyrant and get a really good deal on the world's second-largest oil supply for another few decades. America really is sort of like Inspector Clouseau, now that I think about it--arrogantly assured of its own competence, bumbling and causing disasters wherever it pokes its nose in, destroying whatever it touches. ("That was one of the most ancient and civilized countries in Southeast Asia!" "Not anymeaur.")

The only other possible topic this week seemed like the appointment of Henry Kissinger to oversee the investigation into intelligence failures before 9/11, but that seems more like a cartoon itself than an event to base a cartoon on. I mean, what could be more ridiculous and obscene? It's like appointing John Wilkes Booth to head the Warren Comission, or Joseph Stalin to oversee to the Nuremberg trials. I feel safe in predicting that no major revelations about incometence or complicity high up in the administration will be forthcoming, and that no non-expendable heads will roll.