After Dick Cheney got done telling ABC News that it was a good sign that the Brits are pulling their forces out of Iraq he went back on the attack. He scurried off to East Asia rather than be here in town for the potential conviction of his top henchman. And he continues to say anything and just make shit up in order to maintain the fiction that we are fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq.

ABC News interviewed the vice president in Tokyo, where he told troops aboard the USS Kitty Hawk that the United States would not withdraw until the job was done.

“I want you to know that the American people will not support a policy of retreat,” Cheney told the soldiers.

Cheney also had harsh words for Democratic leaders, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., who says he wants to stop the surge of more U.S. troops into Iraq.

Cheney said Pelosi and other Democrats were pushing a policy in Iraq that would “validate the al Qaeda strategy.”

“I think if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are suggesting, all we’ll do is validate the al Qaeda strategy,” Cheney told ABC News.

“The al Qaeda strategy is to break the will of the American people, knowing they can’t win in a stand-up fight, try to convince us to throw in the towel and come home and then they win because we quit,” he said.

“I think that is exactly the wrong course to go on,” Cheney said. “I think that is the course of action that Speaker Pelosi and Jack Murtha support. I think it would be a mistake for the country.

Well, if it’s only a mistake then I guess Cheney might know what he is talking about. I’ll take a mistake over spending another $100 billion and hundreds more lives on a lie. Cheney is so seriously unhinged at this point that Congress really should consider taking action. Bush said that anyone involved with leaking classified information would no longer be a part of his administration. Libby’s conviction (let us hope) will offer a perfect opportunity for Cheney to step down and retire to Jackson Hole in shame.