Does anyone know the source of the quote, "We have met the enemy and it is us"?

Question

Here's the Encycolpedia Britannica opening discussion of "Terrorism":

"Systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective. It has been used throughout history by political organizations of both the left and the right, by nationalist and ethnic groups, and by revolutionaries. Although usually thought of as a means of destabilizing or overthrowing existing political institutions, terror also has been employed by governments against their own people to suppress dissent."

Answer 1

From the foreword to The Pogo Papers, Copyright 1952-53

"The publishers of this book, phrenologists of note, have laid hands upon the author’s head and report the following vibrations:

Herein can be found that rare native tree, the Presidential Timber, struck down in mid-sprout by the jawbone of a politician. Pogo returns to the swamp from a couple of political conventions to find his unfinished business being rapidly finished, once and for all, by rough and ready hands.

With that much information you are about as well equipped as anybody to plunge into the still waters of the Okefenokee Swamp, home of the Pogo people. The activities in this present book were spread shamelessly over the past drought-ridden year. Looking back across the fertilizer, small shafts of green can be seen here and there, while off in the distance wisps of smoke denote the harvesters at work.

Some nature lovers may inquire as to the identity of a few creatures here portrayed. On this point field workers are in some dispute.

Specializations and markings of individuals everywhere abound in such profusion that major idiosyncracies can be properly ascribed to the mass*. Traces of nobility, gentleness and courage persist in all people, do what we will to stamp out the trend. So, too, do those characteristics which are ugly. It is just unfortunate that in the clumsy hands of a cartoonist all traits become ridiculous, leading to a certain amount of self-conscious expostulation and the desire to join battle.

There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand. Resolve then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and tinny blast on tiny trumpets, we shall meet the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us.

Forward!

*Quimby’s Law. (Passed by the Town of Quimby after the Trouble with Harold Porch in 1897)"

Walt Kelly first used the quote "We Have Met The Enemy and He Is Us" on a poster for Earth Day in 1970. The poster is shown above. In 1971, he did a two panel version with Pogo and Porky in a trash filled swamp. This is the only example I know of with a balloon, indicating Pogo responding to Porky with "YEP, SON, WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US." In 1972, it was the title of a book, Pogo: We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us. OGPI had the version shown to the right produced for the Waycross, Georgia Pogofest in 1998 as a brass plate on a wooden plaque.

Answer 2

A cartoon strip called Pogo. Don't know the artist name but I'm sure you can google it with the above info.

I don't consider the illegal Dumbya Coup "us" because THEIR "us" is not us. The use of "terror" by the Dumbya Coup is fortunately limited (by the democratic traditions of the former USA) to include only limited individual citizens abducted to places like "Gitmo" .... you know the story there. The Coup is trying to be authoritarian to the extent that it can to trash the Constitution, but as of yet I feel safe speaking as I do against that. This would not be possible in a totalitarian regime, something Dumbya only dreams of, if he wants that at all.

Answer 3

The quote is from the comic strip Pogo.
The Encycolpedia Britannica is right and that is what Bush and his buddies are doing.

Answer 4

We have met the enemy, and it is us", said Pogo the opossum, protagonist in one of America's best-loved comic strips, as he surveyed the 1950s political scene. Even a 'possum could see that the root of human trouble is almost invariably human beings

Answer 5

I don't know but I bet it was a damnocrat. The damnocrats are hurting America more than the terrorist

Answer 6

The correct saying is "We have met the enemy and they is us." Pogo.

Answer 7

I do. It means that if you do something bad to your enemies your sinking into their level.

Answer 8

Hopefully the muslim's will say it and hear what their mouths are saying...

Answer 9

pogo said it