Hitchens: The Literal Left - The Antiwar Crowd, Clutching at Straw Men

Slate ^ | 4 December 2003 | Christopher Hitchens

[Stultis]

Also posted, under the second title, at Frontpage:

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=11181

[Stultis]

Early morning Hitchens ping.

[OldFriend]

Hitchens has become a rare voice of sanity in the leftist media venues of America.

[Stultis]

Hitchens reminds us of where we might be now if we weren't in Iraq.

[risk]

Now if Hitch could just admit that it was the Soviet Union and Marxist ideology, not Henry Kissinger wasn't the cause of global injustice during the Cold War in the '60s and '70s.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

It doesn't take a rocket scientist (just for once I can use this expression without toppling into cliché) to deduce that the presence of a large force all along Iraq's borders might have had something to do with North Korea's cold feet.

So the "drumbeat" scared off the deal-makers, and Saddam Hussein never did get Rodong missiles, which might have been able to hit targets far away from Iraq. Elsewhere in the Kay report, there is convincing evidence that Iraqi scientists were working on missiles, and missile fuels, with ranges longer than those permitted by the United Nations. So there is an explanation for why the completed and readied material was never "found" by inspectors before or after the invasion: It hadn't been acquired quite yet.

[risk]

Major PR problem: our policy of preemption worked. So there were no mass deaths of Americans to prove that it was needed. Solution: constant reminders from the Administration of how bad it could be otherwise. People need to be reminded.

[dennisw]

 

 

 

New ping list for Islamic Jihad and terrorism. 3 pings per day, every day. Some from my old ping list are on by default.

On or off let me know by freepmail. 
Easy on, easy off, via freepmail.

 

 

[tet68]

. But I refuse to believe that any antiwar person is so keen on vindication as to wish for anything like that.

Oh no Chris?

Perhaps you should re-examin that position.

[risk]

He just can't quite break free, can he? It must be hell admitting he was wrong about Vietnamm, Chile, Iran and so forth.

[Ronin]

You beat me to it. I am fully convinced that most leftists are lighting joss sticks to Isis or Ba'al or whatever bloody alter they nod to that things get as miserable as possible.

Both for the satisfaction of saying they knew it would happen and for the damage they hope it will do to Republican interests in the next election.

[lainde]

bttt

[PogySailor]

All of these things would of course come to pass, and right away, if the Iraqi "resistance" succeeded in sabotaging the coalition presence. But I refuse to believe that any antiwar person is so keen on vindication as to wish for anything like that.

Dang Chris. You were right up to the last paragraph. The "antiwar" left could care less about the life of the average Iraqi. Can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs and all that you know....

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Why is Hitchens so right on this and yet seems to support the Chomsky view of events in Cambodia during the Vietnam war?

Commenting on the overthrow of Prince Norodom Sihanouk Bruce Sharp describes Chomsky's feeeeeeelings: "With the coup, the delicate balance that had kept Cambodia out of a wider war collapsed. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces poured across the border, and the Vietnamese communists suddenly retreated deeper into Cambodia, mauling Lon Nol's forces along the way. War soon enveloped the entire country."

The "pourings" and bombings were "crimes." The leftist pukes don't deny that North Vietnamese and their Viet Cong were in Cambodia. Were they building schools and day care facilities between battles in South Vietnam? Nooooooo, the Vietnam communists didn't bring Cambodia into the war. We did it by defending against their army that was attacking our troops. Go figure.

Mr. Bruce Sharp provides an answer why we were the "criminals." Unlike the "crimes" of the West, the crimes of the Khmer Rouge were not to be illuminated. They were to be obfuscated. Our "crimes" had to get all the attention.

[ImpBill]

Chris Hitchens was doing great in the article until the last line, unless he was being sarcastic, which is his wont at times. "But I refuse to believe that any antiwar person is so keen on vindication as to wish for anything like that." Speaking of refugee exodus, humanitarian meltdown, and mass civilian casualties. I actually believe many of the peacenik left are disappointed these things have not come to pass.

But again nice to see Hitchens take on his ideological brethern.

[Valin]

But I refuse to believe that any antiwar person is so keen on vindication as to wish for anything like that.

I'd LIKE to believe that, but (IMO) the lefts hatred of Bush is such that I think many of them do wish this would have happened.

[OldFriend]

Problem is, the dems were hoping for a massive death count of US military personnel. This would have led them to rant and rave about how we ought NOT to have gone to war.

No way is the left or their cohorts in the media going to be intellectually honest about the truth of Iraq.

Mr. Kay's report makes the weapons of mass murder availability to Saddam Hussein quite clear for any who wish to see the truth.

[.cnI redruM]

Hitchens is a Democrat who has grown.

[GulliverSwift]

A shame that such growing doesn't happen on the supreme court.