Christopher Hitchens on Charlie Rose 06-Jun-03 (Part 1)

(Part 1 of 3) A conversation about opposing views on the media's portrayal of the war in Iraq with Christopher Hitchens, author of "A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq" and a reporter for "Vanity Fair", and Eric Alterman, author of "What Liberal Media?: The Truth About Bias and the News" and writer for "The Nation".

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnyltwrzFEQ
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkthrDDiSH0

Please let me know if you like the Christopher Hitchens videos. Thanks!
- BerkeleyGuy

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• Hitchens
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• Eric
• Alterman
• Charlie
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• Iraq

[JeffBeck13]

that is simply nihilism.

Saddam put 'Allah Akbar' on the flag. Had the Koran written out in his own blood in the most expensive mosque on the planet. He payed the families of suicide bombers of Palestine upwards of $25 000. He forced the Bath party for the final 10 years of his rule to undergo religious 'programming'. He went on national TV calling Iraq a 'Martyr nation'. HIs final words as he was hung were "allah akbar!'.

Zarqawi was also in Iraq training soldiers prior to the invasion.

[soapfiction]

Compared to what it would have been had we not gone in, this is pretty good progress. More and more Iraqis on both sides are clueing in that the jihadist movement is not the way to go.

If you consider Saddam's rule preferable to anything else, even what it is now, you'd do well to spend a few months in North Korea. Try it for yourself.

[solidarity2205]

@JeffBeck13 And what did Bush &Obama do. Saddam &Osama killed a thousands, so did Bush &Obama. The former pair in the name of Islam and the latter in the holy name of democracy &freedom. If Obama gets a peace prize for all his bullshit so I believe Osama too is entitled to one, Remember Henry Kissinger getting a peace then after being the greatest warmonger. Americans fuck the whole world & later ask "WHY DO THEY HATE US?"

Obama is a black version of Bush. tagline is "WE WILL FORCE YOU 2B FREE"

[richardcadbury]

eric alterman = scum

[chocobosage420]

i lold when he called him a neocon

[TheWeareallequal]

hitchens has nothing on alterman, alterman wins

[samu3ls]

Interesting stuff. I have to say, Hitchens' argument is much more convincing than Alterman's.

[sanjocal]

geez did Charlie drink like 12 cups of coffee before he came on the show??

[TheTopBloke]

WTF??? This a conspiracy or what? I deliberately chose those series because I saw parts 1,2 and 3 available and npw I cant' find section 2. This is the second Hitchens series that has parts missing. If some can find it please let me know.

[rgman268]

In fact if you were to look at attitudes towards Gays today, many would argue that Gay people were better under Hussein since they many have and continue to be murdered.

[rgman268]

of a religous fundamentalist.

This is demonstrated in Saadam's attitude towards Gay people, who while did not live in complete freedom, were not specifically persecuted and did not need to live in hiding.

These are not the attitudes of a religious fundamentalist.

[rgman268]

No, he was not a religious fanatic.

If he was that, he would have made Iraq into a modern day Saudi Arabia and would have made a much bigger effort to exterminate the Shia and Christian population in Iraq.

Whilst they were persecuted, there was no systematic genocide such as the one that Jews went under. This could have easily been achieved.

Furthermore, the Iraqi state was not Islamic itself and Sharia Law was only used in cases of personal finance. That is hardly the mark....