The Castle Aaaagh. Our quest is at an end! God be praised!
Dick Cheney opines:
“Today the former dictator (of Iraq) sits in captivity; he can no longer harbor and support terrorists, and his long efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction are at an end,” Cheney told Italian political and business leaders. [Emphasis added]
King Arthur offers:
ARTHUR:
The Castle Aaaagh. Our quest is at an end! God be praised! Almighty God, we thank Thee that Thou hast vouchsafed to us the most holy–
[twong]
[baaaa]
Jesus Christ!
[thud]
FRENCH GUARD:
Allo, dappy English k-niggets and Monsieur Arthur King, who has the brain of a duck, you know. So, we French fellows outwit you a second time!
ARTHUR:
How dare you profane this place with your presence! I command you, in the name of the Knights of Camelot, to open the doors of this sacred castle, to which God Himself has guided us!
FRENCH GUARD:
How you English say, ‘I one more time, mac, unclog my nose in your direction’, sons of a window-dresser! So, you think you could out-clever us French folk with your silly knees-bent running about advancing behavior?! I wave my private parts at your aunties, you cheesy lot of second hand electric donkey-bottom biters.
Thanks to Blair for the Reuters link.
There was something else that Cheney said in that speech that set off my “Rove Alarm.”
I don’t have a transcript, and I’m working on a buggy computer, and I’m commenting on a post that no one will probably read – so I don’t have what he said, but it went like this —
“Blah blah blah newly free Iraqis blah blah blah Freedom Deficit.”
“Freedom Deficit.” Hmmm. Is this some concept I’ve never heard of before? The quantification of the lack of freedom in freedom-lacking countries?
We might hear this phrase again, in response to criticism about the Budget Deficit. As in, yes, there’s a large Budget Deficit in this country, but we’re out getting rid of the Freedom Deficits in other countries. Siiiiiiick.
Well, I found it, though it was not all that easy as Cheney used the word “freedom” 13 times in the speech, by my count:
—-
It is clear that reform has many advocates in the Muslim world. Arab intellectuals have spoken of a “freedom deficit,” and of the imperative for internal reform, greater political participation, the rule of law, economic openness, and wider trade. And we have begun to see movement toward reform in the greater Middle East.
—-
But the transcript has the term in quotation marks, so maybe Cheney was just being ironic (I haven’t seen footage of the speech, so I have no idea if he did that little “air quote” thingy with his fingers) …
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040126-6.html