<< Did Hitchen lay the premise for his opaque , ie, that we are at war? Perhaps it was there and I did not see it, or perhaps it was lost in "translation." >>
For those of us who know the meaning of "is" and of being "ever alone in a hotel with that woman," believe me, we are at war -- and Mr Hitchens knows it and assumes his readers know it, too.
And, believe me, Mr Hitchens was both correct to assume and comfortable with the assumption that his readers -- almost, it turns out, to a man -- know we are at war.
And thus made clear to all, it transpires but to the absolute literalists, that Lt J-G Kerry was unsuited to and aught not advance further up the ranks of the Peter Principled.
Neither insofar as the Armed Forces Commander-In-Chief "rank" is concerned nor, given that he has never had a real job, been responsible to an executive descision, to a profit -- nor met a payroll -- insofar as the Chief Executive position: President of the United States; is concerned.
Quod erat demonstrandum.