Backing the troops while blasting the brass

Garry Trudeau, the Doonesbury creator, has launched a military blog, or milblog, as an outlet for people serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

David Hinckley in the NY Daily News:

It might seem mildly ironic that some of the most relentless, penetrating and sobering commentary about the effect of the Iraqi war on flesh-and-blood soldiers has come in a comic strip.

On the other hand, it wouldn't surprise anyone who has followed Garry Trudeau's "Doonesbury." Trudeau has always seen the strip as a stealth media missile, a way to slip some truth into the glass that washes things down with a splash of humor.

If that sounds difficult, it is. Equally difficult, Trudeau has managed something many war supporters maintain is not possible: taking the side of the troops who are fighting the war while consistently lampooning those who got them into it.

Trudeau calls it The Sandbox, which describes itself as:

our command-wide milblog, featuring comments, anecdotes, and observations from service members currently deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan... offering those in-country a chance to share their experiences and reflections with the rest of us. The Sandbox's focus is not on policy and partisanship ... but on the unclassified details of deployment -- the everyday, the extraordinary, the wonderful, the messed-up, the absurd. The Sandbox is a clean, lightly-edited debriefing environment where all correspondence is read, and as much as possible is posted. And contributors may rest assured that all content, no matter how robust, is currently secured by the First Amendment.

Hat tip: Romenesko.