C-Span 7:46ET: Hitchens on. Looks drunk and confused.

[LittleApple81]

Does not understand what is going on with council in Iraq. Does he know anything about anything.
He is glad about the army investigations (more investigations) because it speaks well of the Army's ethics.
He actually said "abuse" is not the word. It should be "torture". I was surprised about this.

[LittleApple81]

1. Pentagon, State Dept. and other institutions at war with each other

and have decided to blame a third party and that is Chalabi.

Chalabi not guilty... all the governments in the West believed in WMD. Chalabi is very bright but he could not have done the convincing on his own.

[dusty64]

2. That useless hack always

seems drunk out of his mind. The only possible reason he could get so much airtime is because he is always bashing Democrats, I can't think of any other one.

[dryan]

24. Hitchens

When does he NOT appear to be drunk and confused?

[Leilani]

3. And defending Chalabi

& explaining why we believed WMDs were there.

So, backing all this junk!

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. It's time for journalist to sign full disclosure forms before coming on

a national forum, be it written or t.v. If they have some financial or political interest involved, they should let the public know before they're allowed such a wide forum. If he's getting the mola to be a whore, then, I think we should be told.

[LittleApple81]

4. Iraq was trying to buy in March of 2003 weapons from N. Korea.

He called Pakistan "one of our former allies?" He is drunk.

[LittleApple81]

5. Caller: the media should get over the "abuse". "Golden Ghettoes" of

New York and Hollywood are the only ones worrying about this because middle America gets it.

[stanwyck]

8. Wow. I didn't realize I actually

live in New York. Or is it Hollywood? I thought I was in Atlanta. And yet here I sit, concerned about our breaking the Geneva Convention.
Hitchens is a total whore. Was the Bruce Willis character in Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities" based on him? Drunk, opportunistic...ready to say/write whatever is needed to get the price of his next drink? He's rambling, crabwalking, all over the place. "Moral equivalence" is his theme. We're not as bad as Saddam. I guess it's a math equation for Hitchens. As soon as we kill as many Iraqi civiliansas Hussein, then he'll be concerned. Until then, we're in the clear.

[LittleApple81]

6. Caller: why should we have supported Chalabi when he is a convicted

felon in Jordan. Bush has shown comtempt for everybody including the caller's religious beliefs. He is antichristian with his pre-emptive strikes.

[LittleApple81]

7. He says that he does not know what happened in Jordan. A military

tribunal was the one conducting the investigation in Jordan.

He says that fraud is what should be investigated in the UN with the food-for-oil program. (my opinion: I can see this is what is going to be used to push the UN to do Bush*'s bidding)

[LittleApple81]

9. Caller: two occupations one in Iraq and another Palestine.

ME countries want WMD because Israel has them.
mentioned the Israel guy that was an interrogator is an Iraqi Jewish citizen and wonders why it has not been covered by the media.

Hitchens says he has written about Vanunu (Jewish scientist who uncovered Israel's WMDs).
Caller mistaken: Saddam would have used the weapons on Iran and other Muslim countries and not Israel.

[TheWebHead]

10. what flag is on his lapel pin?

edit: it's Kurdistan

[0007]

11. Hitchens has a way to piss everyone off just a little,

and at the same time everyone must love Hitchens just a little.

What a bore! He talks like he has a paper asshole.

[LittleApple81]

12. A caller said Kwait was carved from Iraq by the British. Imperialism

has done horrible things to the ME.

[LittleApple81]

13. A caller who is part of "women in black" in Israel (Jewish women in the

peace movement) Says Israel DOES TORTURE PALESTINIANS and that's where the hoods came from.

[LittleApple81]

16. He said Mossad could have been giving advice in Iraq. And that

he didn't say there was no torture in Palestine.
But he said Hamas will be defeated because the devalue life but we shouldn't be ruthless.
Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is based on the preposterous idea that this was given to the Jewish people by God. And the US should not give help to Israel while this occupation is happening.

[keithyboy]

15. Most callers a better versed in the truth of events than Hitchens

He's getting is butt kicked by most of the callers...especially calling him on his fact concerning no torture by Israelis. Why do forums like C-Span give this drunken turd a chance to even speak.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

17. Habit.

He's in all their Rolodexes and he will show up at a moment's notice. He's entertaining, if for no other reason than people can use one of his appearences to track his ongoing dissolution. That appeals to the morbid voyeur in us all.

[HamdenRice]

18. Please don't bash Hitchens unfairly

I don't agree with Hitchens on a lot of things, but I really think it is wrong to bash Hitchens as a RW whore or some such. Hitchens views have always been pretty consistent and he is usually actually on the right side of the issues.

If I had to characterize Hitchens, I would call him a true descendant of the "cold war liberals" of the 1960s -- people who were really liberal on social and economic issues in the west, but when it came to fascism or stalinism, were really human rights absolutists who don't accept any excuses for restrictions on freedom in the name of leftist economic and social policies.

This explains most of Hitchens views: He is a devoted follower of liberal intellectual George Orwell, who was both a socialist and anti-Stalinist, anti-Communist -- that is in favor of a left, socialist agenda without any of the dictatorship of the proletariat crap.

He is an ardent anti-Kissinger zealot -- almost to the point of pursuing him like Jewish Nazi hunters pursued former Nazis. He believes Kissinger killed a lot of people under the Nixon administration and should be prosecuted for war crimes.

As a human rights absolutist, he seemed to think that Sadam stunk worst than Bush and supported removing Sadam, even though he always qualified his support for Bush, because he has consistently supported getting rid of all totalitarian regimes. If there is any really sleezy aspect of Hitchens philosophy, it is that he was willing to support an obvious imperialist adventure by a corrupt incompetent administration in order to remove a dictator.

As a human rights absolutist, he has consistently criticized the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the violation of the human rights and national rights of the Palestinians.

He is generally pro-Democratic, but was anti-Clinton for the reason a lot of Democrats were anti-Clinton -- namely, the right of center economics and the lying (even if only over sex and taudry politics).

For a curmodgeonly individualism absolutist, appeals to Hitchen to tone down his anti-Clintonism in the name of party loyalty falls on deaf ears.

Remember, Hitchens early Clinton bashing was because Clinton was not liberal enough, not because Clinton was liberal or Democratic.

I don't agree with Hitchens on a lot of things, but if you cannot imagine making common cause with someone like Hitchens on some issues, then we have a very small tent indeed.

[Kahuna]

21. "Small tent?" "Don't bash Hitchens?" He announced he support's bush

in the election. Excuse me while I hurl.. :puke:

[MarkTwain]

19. Hmmmmm.....

... So what else is new? Sun rise in the East this morning, too?

[stanwyck]

20. However, he did make me laugh

when he referred to Michael Moore as fat and obnoxious. Pretty brave of Hitchens to mention those adjectives.

[Judi Lynn]

23. Oh, my! Imagine that! Hitchens, you say.

We should be thankful he didn't claim Moore is so wrecked he even shows up in tv interviews loaded.

[eileen from OH]

22. Would that be the same Hitchens who derided Clinton's

effort to get Bin Laden in 1997 and said he must be some kind of Islmaic Ken Starr?

http://www.salon.com/news/1998/09/23news.html

eileen from OH

[Az]

25. Christians have Pat Robertson, atheists have Hitchens

It can be said we truly know your pain.