Yes, Dick (“Dick”) Cheney has thrown off the coffin-lid; with a sulphurous emanation he has emerged from the flames of his hell; and he has spoken to a human – Martha Raddatz of American ABC News – about the War in Iraq and of his deathly dominion over all men (and women).

RADDATZ: Two-thirds of Americans say it’s not worth fighting, and they’re looking at the value gain versus the cost in American lives, certainly, and Iraqi lives.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: [with a smirk] So?

RADDATZ: So — you don’t care what the American people think?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls.

So let’s take a look at Lord Vader’s “fluctuations”. Surely, from what he said, opinions fluctuate pretty evenly between “for” and “against”.

Is the Iraq War worth the cost?

Um … gosh … It’s pretty obvious that however you look at it, the fluctuations are insignificant compared to the clearly increasingly negative opinion of Americans. In fact there has not been stable majority support for the war since about 2004/5.

But hey, let’s not get sidetracked by the facts. While we’re at it, why not claim, again, that Saddam ordered the 9/11 attacks and that he had WMDs, and that he had links to Al Qaeda.

Knowing it was a lie never stopped Dick (Dick) before.

Elsewhere:

In interviews to celebrate the fifth anniversary of peace and democracy in Iraq Bush answered “please may I suck your cock” questions from government employees from the Pentagon Channel, Voice of America and US-government-funded Radio Farda.

Bush expressed his view that it is very hard to trust governments if

“ they haven’t told the full truth…Once a nation hasn’t told the truth, it requires a lot of work to convince people that they’ll be telling the truth in the future.”

In your case, sir, to try would be a waste of time.

Froomkin reports,

“ Asked about his meeting with family members of those killed in battle, Bush responded: “I try to get them to talk about their loved one. I want to learn about each individual person who sacrificed, what they were like, what their interests were, and a lot of times the families love sharing their stories with the Commander-in-Chief.

Exactly! Once they have spoken to a man of god like myself, all the anguish and grief of losing a son, daughter, husband, wife, father or mother, disappear and are replaced by sunshine and butterflies and laughter.

We were just wondering…why did you not interest yourself in the people you have been sending to their deaths in the first place, you know, like, “what they were like, what their interests were”?

And what is this:

“the individual person who sacrificed”.

Sacrificed?

Got shot in the head.

Blown up.

Torn apart.

Murdered.

They didn’t sacrifice. They were sacrificed. By you. You sacrificed them to your ego. They didn’t willingly throw themselves in front of a bullet, or lay their bodies down over a roadside IED. They got killed. By your madness.

Yes, we know it sounds better. It sounds holy and good. Even saintly. And the holy glow of their “sacrifice” makes you look beatific for giving them the opportunity.

Fuck you, George W. Bush 

In a videoconference with U.S. personnel in Afghanistan last week, Bush said:

“I must say, I’m a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed.

It must be exciting for you . . . in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You’re really making history, and thanks.”

Bush, of course, has always been keen to enjoy the romance of frontline warfare and he has always regretted being unable to share the fantastic, romantic excitement of Vietnam .

That was because of his need to be absent from the Texas and Alabama Air National Guards for extended periods – including those periods when he was required to pass an annual physical examination. At other times he was sadly required to make no effort to participate as a guardsman, and annoyingly at yet other times when he needed to show civilians in Alabama that he was a “Texas soufflé: all puffed up and full of hot air”.

We are sure that he is keen, though, to complete the 6 year military service commitment that he made in 1968 but never completed – and which in an amazing coincidence exactly covered the period of the Vietnam War – as soon as he is no longer “employed here”, say in January 2009.

Then he’ll be available to suit up and enjoy the romance of Afghanistan or Iraq.

And perhaps he will “sacrifice” there.