a friend of Christopher Hitchens takes him to task

[the Kelly Gang]

Gung-ho view distorts reality

August 03, 2004

DEAR Christopher,

"Most of the time, on most issues, I'm on your side, three cheering your devil's advocacy of the putative saint Mother Teresa (there were aspects to Mother's myth that demanded debunking and you were at your forensic best). Ditto in your response to the preposterous aftermath to the death of Princess Di. (You and I were writing very similar columns and I'm sure we both got swags of hate mail.) Your book on former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, where you demanded that he be charged as a war criminal, was superb - and, ever since, Henry has been on the run.

Then there was your courageous expose of local government in Washington, DC, worthy of comparison with the writings of your hero, George Orwell, when he was down and out in Paris. And I think your magisterial review of the writings of Anthony Powell is one of the best pieces of literary criticism I've read.

But when you write about Iraq, we part company. George W. Bush says the world changed on September 11. Certainly you did - though people who've known you longer say that your enthusiasm for the war in Iraq had a precedent in your support for Margaret Thatcher in her Falklands war."

************
from The Australian journalist Philip Adams

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10324149%5E12272,00.html