He may or may not welcome it, but Tony Blair has had lavish praise heaped on him by the uber-conservative of US politics, Dick Cheney.

In his autobiography published on Tuesday, the self-declared Darth Vader of the Bush administration pays tribute to the former Labour leader. Not only was Blair America's greatest ally during the Bush years, says Cheney, but his speeches about the "war on terror" were some of the most eloquent he had been privileged to hear.

George Bush's friendship and closeness to Blair have been well documented, but the position of his vice-president, who earned a reputation for secretiveness while at the White House, has been less clear until now.

In the 565-page In My Time, Cheney is unrepentant about the most controversial decisions taken by the White House, from the waterboarding of Guantánamo Bay detainees to the invasion of Iraq.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/30/dick-cheney-autobiography-tony-blair

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the devil is also in the tale...