Maybe this is too obvious (but "the horror, the horror" was already taken)....

Iraq isn't LoTR, it's Catch-22. And Bush, well this is tough - he could be Colonel Cargill (but maybe Cheney is a better choice for that), or he could be Major Major.

* Colonel Cargill

"Colonel Cargill was a forceful, ruddy man. Before the war, he had been an alert, hard-hitting, aggressive marketing executive. He was a very bad marketing executive. Colonel Cargill was so bad a marketing executive that his services were much sought after by firms eager to establish losses for tax purposes. Throughout the civilized world, from Battery Park to Fulton Street, he was known as a dependable man for a fast tax write-off. His prices were high, for failure often did not come easily. He had to start at the top and work himself down, and with sympathetic friends in Washington, losing money was no simple matter. It took months of hard work and careful misplanning. A person misplaced, disorganized, miscalculated, overlooked everything and opened every loophole, and just when he thought he had it made, the government gave him a lake or a forest or an oilfield and spoiled everything. Even with such handicaps, Colonel Cargill could be relied on to run the most prosperous enterprise into the ground. He was a self-made man who owed his lack of success to nobody."

* Major Major

"Major Major had been born too late and too mediocre. Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three. Even among men lacking all distinction he inevitably stood out as a man lacking more distinction than all the rest, and people who met him were always impressed by how unimpressive he was."

* Yossarian, is of course, everyone can think for themselves:

"Morale was deteriorating and it was all Yossarian's fault. The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them."

For Rumsfeld, though, I'm afraid we need to turn to Forrest Gump (except without the luck).

To the correspondent who suggested the Bach flower remedies, is there is any reason why you wouldn't also suggest a voodoo priestess or a bottle of snake oil instead? They are about as credible.....

Whenever issues such as this one are raised in this column, the chorus of moralistic, judgmental shrills is always quick to jump in and start the online stoning.

What are you people so afraid of that fills you with this much hatred for a stranger? She did the wrong thing, she knows it, but why do you despise her so? What gives you the right to judge her with your venom and fury?

I see these bilious mails and all I can think of is "Christian Taliban". I guess cold-hearted delusions of moral superority can exist in any country.

It couldn't happen to a nicer torture-backing, micromanaging, incompetent, megalomanic, war criminal.

So, if Cheney was the "invisible hand" keeping Rumsfeld safe until now, should we be looking at Cheny's oddly-timed hunting trip as Pontius Pilate washing his invisible hands of the whole sorry affair?

Did Cheney know that there was no longer any point protecting his old buddy? Or is something else going on? Does it mean that Cheney no loner has the same influence over Bush that he once held? With his ally gone and his stubbornly incompetent tactics damaging the presidency like so much buck-shot to the face, will he be next?

As a Brisbane boy, I am terribly embarassed by this story. Or at least, I would be, if I thought there was anyone in town, apart from the members themselves, who actually thought that Tatts Club membership was in any way impressive.

They are a bunch of silly rich boys, who, despite the advancing of decades still feel their most important achievement came the day they first knotted their old school tie.

There are plenty of people in this city who are getting on with life, business, art, and everything else wihtout the need to retreat into a riduculous Victorian-era echo chamber.

Besides, the women who don't wish to escape their private girls' school friends can always live out their conservative fantasies by joining the Polo Club.

Nevertheless, on behalf of my fellow townsfolk, I am profoudly sorry :-(

..... because it's your job, that's why. Your job is to write for others to enjoy or admire. So sit back, appreciate your success, and if you want to read for pleasure, read someone else's stuff. That's how it works.

Now, I don't wish to be rude, but I think you should think twice before ever raising this concern with anyone else. It could start to look a little like a narcissistic craving for attention and approval.

Bush: "I felt the punishment was severe. So I made a decision that would commute his sentence."

There are some questions that could follow this statement. For example, the 150 death sentences carried out in Texas under Governor Bush - were any of them severe?

I'm interested why Stephanie has a problem with the existence of "United 93". Would she also have a problem with the existence of "Hotel Rwanda", "The Killing Fields", or "Welcome to Sarajevo", for example? If it's legitimate to make films about terrible tragedies, why should American tragedies not be treated in the same way as others?

Heckuva job, Rovey!

With Rove gone, who is going to delete all the incriminating emails?

Juliebird, you response was perfect!