BAGHDAD, Iraq (UPI) -- Under Saddam Hussein, political cartoons were little more than state propaganda, but press freedom has unleashed a wave of pointed political cartooning.
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, The New York Times reported.
A deep cynicism -- about politicians in general, and policies that have turned Iraq into a sectarian bloodbath -- emerges in virtually every cartoon, the newspaper said. Cartoonists target venal politicians, heavy-handed American soldiers and dreaded suicide bombers.
One of Iraq`s most famous cartoonists, Muayad Naama, died of a heart attack in November, but the daily newspaper al-Mada posthumously printed one of his cartoons. It showed a love-struck man trying to impress a paramour by decapitating himself, and the woman chastising him for his banal gesture -- a statement on how beheadings have become an everyday occurrence.
Another of Naama`s cartoons showed a car salesman pointing out to a prospective customer which vehicles are best for use in car bomb attacks.
