Christopher Hitchens on the Iraq War, Kurdistan, and the CIA (1991 - Part 3)

February 4, 1991 http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww....

Watch the full program: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/08/christopher-hitchens-and-morton-m...

The Iraq sanctions were a near-total financial and trade embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council against the nation of Iraq. They began August 6, 1990, four days after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, and continued until May 22, 2003, after the fall of the Saddam Hussein government in the US-led invasion earlier that year. Their stated purpose was at first to compel Iraq's military to withdraw from Kuwait and after that to compel Iraq to pay reparations, and to disclose and eliminate any weapons of mass destruction, and to do certain other things.

Initially the U.N. Security Council had adopted Resolution 661, a resolution that imposed stringent economic sanctions on Iraq. After the end of the 1991 Gulf War, those sanctions were extended and elaborated on, including linkage to removal of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), by Resolution 687. The sanctions banned all trade and financial resources except for medicine and "in humanitarian circumstances" foodstuffs. They were perhaps the toughest, most comprehensive economic sanctions in human history. The controversy over the increased child-and-infant mortality, poverty, and suffering inflicted on the Iraqi people led two senior UN representatives in Iraq to resign in protest.

Kurdistan, Persian meaning "the land of Kurds," was first coined in 1150 by the Seljuk Sultan Sanjar for designating a portion of Western Iran.

Contemporary use of Kurdistan refers to parts of eastern Turkey (Turkish Kurdistan), northern Iraq (Iraqi Kurdistan), northwestern Iran (Iranian Kurdistan) and northern Syria inhabited mainly by Kurds, with connotations of the older toponyms Curdia and the ancient Corduene.

Kurdistan roughly encompasses the northwestern Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges, extending there from to small portions of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Iraqi Kurdistan has gained official recognition internationally as an autonomous federal entity. There is a province by the name of Kurdistan in Iran, where Kurds are officially recognized as a minority.

Kurdish nationalism seeks to unify the Kurdish areas into an independent nation state.

Prior to establishing the permanent select committee in 1977, the House of Representatives established the "Select Committee on Intelligence", commonly referred to as the "Pike Committee", so named after its last chairman, Otis G. Pike of New York. The select committee had originally been established in February 1975 under the chairmanship of Congressman Lucien Nedzi of Michigan. Following Nedzi's resignation in June, the committee was reconstituted with Pike as chair, in July 1975, with its mandate expiring January 31, 1976. Under Pike's chairmanship, the committee investigated illegal activities by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The final report of the Pike Committee was never officially published, due to Congressional opposition. However, unauthorized versions of the draft final report were leaked to the press. CBS News reporter Daniel Schorr was called to testify before Congress, but refused to divulge his source. Major portions of the report were published by The Village Voice, and a full copy of the draft was published in England.

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[finchy633]

I don't see why people make a big deal about Hitchens assumed change of positions. As Mr Keynes famously said "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir? Ideas shape the course of history."

[GiulianoTaverna89]

@keereekee The Bush 41 administration never attempted or even considered regime change and Bush 43 ran against it while Gore was running on it, Clinton just having passed the Iraqi liberation act at the urging of people like Hitchens. Hitchens to the best of my knowledge has never said a kind word about any dictatorship, and has never done more than acknowledged that occasionally America will do the right thing, even if for the wrong reasons and in the wrong way.

[temporaldisplacement]

@GreatImperium I think he made two salient points throughout this clip ...he may have won some battles here but charisma wasn't going to be one of them.

[jimmbo13]

@finchy633 |Yes but Hitchens changed while the facts did not, which he admitted somewhat, somewhere where he admitted he should have supported Bush 41

[GreatImperium]

That other guy is such a loser. All he does is call Hitchens names and put words in his mouth.

[tmcgrenere]

Ha Ha I laughed so hard at @hugoegbert79. Though I don't usually agree with Mr. Hitchens, I do like his style, his opinionated personality (like me) and his entertaining persona. He has made debating cool.

[TheLockon00]

HUTCHENS!!!!!

[MoscowMaestro]

@hugoegbert79 This neocon cunt Hitchens has never been a socialist in his entire worthless preening life. He's an airhead fool with an accent he stole from a BBC costume drama, and yanks listen to this moron and worship the shit that falls out of his neocon asshole.

[diadorim1234]

Ehhh??? is this an imaginairy hitchens? did he turn a 180 degrees the last 10 years.

[keereekee]

@finchy633

On the contrary, the facts were precisely the same. Same monstrous dictator, Saddam, in charge, same human rights violations, same program of oppression against the Kurds, same political dynasty in power in America, Bush.

Where is Hitchen's current defense of regime change in Iraq.

I am astounded at Hitchen's polar attitude towards Iraq in this discussion:

International conference on Middle East policy (Hitch, 1990) Vs Invasion/Regime change (Hitch, >2001).

[PurushaDesa]

Bit unfair to accuse Mr. Hutchens of ducking the question, seeing as no one invited him on to the programme.