Vice-President Dick Cheney was not content directly and indirectly overseeing the death of thousands of Arab and Muslim children in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Lebanon over the Bush years. He still wanted to see more suffering for the people in the region and for the Bush administration to go out in a literal bloody bang.

[What death, horror and mayhem were they planning then?]
The Darth Vaderesque Vice-President, according to superb reporting by Seymore Hersh in the New Yorker, was naturally supportive of Israel’s indiscriminate massacre against the Palestinians trapped in the blockaded Gaza Stripe in the final days of the Bush administration. An attack that killed over 1,400 Palestinians; over 900 civilians and over 400 children. Cheney was so enthusiastic about the unfolding horror that he couldn’t just watch from the sidelines, but had to intervene and urge Israel to exercise more damage against the Palestinians.

Sy Hersch reports that during Israel’s offense the Barack Obama transition team spoke with Israeli officials and asked them to end the siege before the new president is sworn in. Upon hearing this, the Vice-President telephoned Israel and told them to ignore Obama; whom he dismissed to the Israelis as “pro-Palestinian” and not supportive of Israel’s goals, and a soon-to-be lightweight president whom would “never make it in the major leagues.” Cheney was in close contact with the Israelis prior to the offensive, nonetheless the Ehud Olmert government did bring large-scale action to an end 24 hours before Inauguration Day. Though that was probably Israel’s intention from the beginning and not due to any Obama team lobbying.

This would not be the first time Cheney would telephone the Israelis would advice of more war after hearing that someone else sent a message of restraint. During Israel’s war against Lebanon in the summer of 2006, a war that killed over 1,000 Lebanese civilians; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice convinced Israeli Premier Olmert to agree to a ceasefire for a few hours so that aid relief can be transported into Lebanon. Olmert was looking for glory in Lebanon; Israeli leaders often kill Arabs in that pursuit as in the case of the Qana massacre in 1996 when incumbent Prime Minister Shimon Peres sought an electoral advantage against Likud leader Benyamin Netanyahu. That should tell you something about Israeli society: that they judge their leaders better still if they kill more civilians. Nevertheless, Olmert decided his eluded glory may wait and agreed to a short-term ceasefire.

Cheney was not happy with Condi’s followed advice. He immediately called Olmert and told him to ignore Condi. Olmert heard the voice of the “Dark Side” [but he hears that all the time anyway in Israel where it is de facto and de jure] and resumed massacring the Lebanese. Israel, it should be noted, was also bombing Gaza, alas again, at that time as well. Its appetite for death and destruction knows no bounds.

The sun has finally set on Bush and Cheney. . . and in time it will set on their favorite apartheid state.