Christopher Hitchens comes out against the Iraq War!!!!!! pt 04

PSYCH!!! here Christopher Hitchens debates Morton Kondracke on the first Gulf War.
Hitchens is here in an older, anti-imperialist mode, a la Noam Chomsky, Edward Said, Howard Zinn etc...
Interestingly, the sense of outrage/horror at the state of Iraq and at the Baath Party dictatorship is just as palpable as in the post 9-11 debates.... One doesn't get the sense that he's simply jumped ship in the latest fight. He's take the evidence in full and decided that it's better to partner with American power (and all it's baggage) against an aggressive genocidal fascist dictatorship, than to partner with left-wing anti-imperialist movements and leave said regime in place.
Kondracke comes out on top in this debate IMO. Hitchens sounds especially outdated with his boilerplate anti-globalization/anti-capitalism rhetoric, more so than Kondracke does with his boilerplate Christian poltics. There is a weird break in the recording while Hitchens is talking at some point (I forget where), but I don't think that much is missing.

Please rate. thanks.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Christopher
• Hitchens
• Kondracke
• Gulf War
• Iraq
• terrorism
• War on terror
• George Bush
• Saddam Hussein
• bin Laden
• foreign policy
• military intervention
• chomsky
• edward said
• Kanan
• Makiya

[valleyshrew]

Having looked into both Gulf wars, it strikes me as extremely peculiar that you could be against the first one and for the second one. The first Gulf war seems like a perfect example of a just war. A moral cause to free Kuwait, with a quick victory and relatively low civilian casualties. The second Gulf war was long, had extremely high casualties and though it was good to remove Saddam, he was no longer a danger and the new government is little better.

[zzzzJAGJEETzzzz]

i like hitchens especially against religion but I really think he has betrayed the cause by supporting the 2003 invasion, he comes off as a bigot.

[eugdog106]

not really,

[MrAlexanderMadison]

@gulshabbo I can't claim to know whether his motive was genuine or calculated; in his memoir he mentions that he misjudged the first gulf war and by 2003 changed his mind in favor of intervention. This could be completely genuine on his part, but it still makes me wonder why the story about his 1991 visit to the Kurdish province in Iraq didn't come up in 1993.

[gulshabbo]

@MrAlexanderMadison You make a very good point. I would advise you to consult Hitchens's Guardian article from September 13, 2001. Reading it has made me conclude that his campaign against "Islamic fascism" has been strategic and calculated rather than genuine and ideological.

[eugdog106]

hitchens was agianst the war in 1991 which they are currently debating but he favored it in 2003.

[MrAlexanderMadison]

Wait, didn't Christopher say that he changed his position on Iraq while visiting the Northern Kurdish province in 1991, but his debate took place two years after in 1993. He mentions the Kurds here, but nothing about his mind changing experience, now I'm question hoe much of that story is embellished to defend his change of heart.

[MrGrandDragon]

@TheProgressistViewer

OMG hes a hypocrite then?

[TheProgressistViewer]

When Bush father was pres

[TheProgressistViewer]

This is 20 years ago, the first gulf war.