Today’s New York Times has an interesting article by Edward Wong—entitled “Chuckling Darkly in Iraq�—on the explosion, per se, of political cartooning in that strife-ridden nation. It is heartening to see some Iraqis managing to so uniquely occupy themselves while their country is occupied. Certainly, they have no shortage of material to draw on. Here is an excerpt:

In Iraq today, there is a new corps of combatants who show no mercy.

Their targets are venal politicians, heavy-handed American soldiers and the dreaded suicide bombers. Armed with pen and sketchpad, they are the vanguard of Iraqi political cartoonists, taking aim at the state of the country three years after Saddam Hussein fell. With few restrictions on speech now, dozens of newspapers have blossomed in Iraq, and all the major ones seem to run one or two cartoons a day.

Under Mr. Hussein, political cartoons appeared, but they amounted to little more than state propaganda.

Mr. Hussein and his aides were, of course, immune from being satirized.

Now, no one is spared. Freedom of speech may be one of the few clear successes of the American-led invasion, but it has a price: the cartoonists refuse to buy into any narrative of a golden dawn for Iraq. A deep cynicism—about politicians in general, and policies that have turned Iraq into a sectarian bloodbath—emerges in virtually every cartoon.

Even top Bush administration officials have taken notice. On a visit to Baghdad this month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pointed to recent Iraqi cartoons as a sign of the ordinary people’s restlessness over endless negotiations to form a new government. [full text]