Scott Morrison Photo:Xinhua

I am the one who illustrated the cartoon that pissed off Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. 

It is totally hard to believe that a head of state like Morrison got totally bent out shape about my computer graphics work. I am flabbergasted that he even organized a press conference to fume about it! Even blame it as "anti-Australia" propaganda!  

Actually, Morrison's outrage should not target my illustration, which was inspired by reality. Instead, he should be taking to task his own country's government and the troops deployed overseas, especially those who committed the brutality on our good neighbors in Afghanistan. 

He should be ashamed that his country has been slow to make its troops more disciplined.

I made the cartoon through the night of November 22 and the day of 23 after reading the news that Australian forces in Afghanistan killed 39 civilians and prisoners. Some even killed two 14-year-old boys by slitting their throats. 

I felt outrageous and frightened after seeing the news. I could hardly imagine that in today's world where human civilization has massively improved, national forces of certain so-called developed countries could have conducted such cruel acts. Based on pure humanitarian sentiments, I channeled my fury and fear into my artistic creation. As a human being, I feel ashamed for those soldiers who committed the slaughter of the innocents.

Morrison called my cartoon "fabricated." Some overseas netizens claimed it was doctored. I'd like to tell them that their focus should not be on whether or not it is a real picture or an artistic creation. It is an incident embedded in a cartoon.

As an ordinary and unknown computer graphics cartoonist, I just use my work and ideas to record truth. This is my responsibility.

The cartoon is my creation based on facts. Of course, the elements in the cartoon and the scene are not real. In reality, there was no scene in which an Australian soldier stands on the national flag and uses the flag to cover the head of an Afghan youth who holds a sheep.

But what really happened is far more disturbing: An Australian soldier slit the throat of an Afghan boy. I don't want to show this brutal scene to the audience directly. So when I made the illustration, I used the national flag to cover the corpse behind the Australian soldier and intentionally wrapped the head of the boy with a corner of the flag. I also made the boy hold a sheep to make a difference in color. So when the audience sees the cartoon, they will notice the sheep first and then the boy having his throat slit. I also designed an effect in which the blue part of the Australian national flag ripped through the red part of the Afghan national flag. This is a reflection of what the US and Australian troops have actually done in Afghanistan. The scene in my illustration looks preposterous. But it truly happened to real people who had loved ones and friends. I hope more people will see this cartoon and pay attention to this tragedy.

During the process of my creation I did use Photoshop, but the cartoon was not doctored in anyway. How could it be? It's a cartoon. Again, all elements in my computer graphics cartoons were created by myself with some composition with Photoshop. Many of my previous works also employed this blended technique. 

It is a 100-percent fact that Australian troops brutally killed Afghan civilians. Australia should tell the Afghans and the world how many people its troops have killed and how they will be held accountable for it. What's happening in the real world is much more brutal, bloody and frightening than what my cartoon shows.

The author is a computer graphics cartoonist. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn