Leftist Christopher Hitchens on the "Peace" Movement

[Wired For Sound]

"Peace" Marchers Out of Step
By Christopher Hitchens
Mirror.co.uk | February 20, 2003

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=6249

"Just in the past few weeks, every stop-gap straw-man argument of the
peaceniks has been shot down in flames.

Yes, dear, I am afraid that there are bin Laden agents taking shelter in
Baghdad.

Yes, Mr bin Laden seems to think that Saddam's cause is, with reservations,
one that a Muslim fascist ought to support. Yes, there are weapons and
systems, found even by the bumbling inspectors, that Saddam had sworn he did
not have.

Yes, sorry to break it to you but the Iraqi regime does have a special
police department that inspects the inspectors.

And - are you sitting down? - the French are owed several billion dollars by
Saddam for their past help in supplying the sinews of aggression against
Iran, Kuwait and Kurdistan.

The Russian government, too, is seeking lucrative contracts in the Iraqi
market and is being rewarded with such contracts for its slithery behaviour
at the UN.

Excuse me, comrades, but that is "blood for oil."

 

[Groucho]

Wired

>>Yes, dear, I am afraid that there are bin Laden agents taking shelter in Baghdad. <<

There are bin Laden agents in the US, in Canada, in the UK, in Saudi Arabia, etc, etc.

>>Yes, Mr bin Laden seems to think that Saddam's cause is, with reservations, one that a Muslim fascist ought to support.<<

What are his views on Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran? Would he support them more than Iraq?

>>Yes, there are weapons and
systems, found even by the bumbling inspectors, that Saddam had sworn he did not have. <<

Almost certainly. What's the most effective way of handling this? War would not be first on my list.

>>Yes, sorry to break it to you but the Iraqi regime does have a special police department that inspects the inspectors. <<

An absolute innocent would have this, too. I would. You would. *Anyone* would.

>>And - are you sitting down? - the French are owed several billion dollars by Saddam for their past help in supplying the sinews of aggression against Iran, Kuwait and Kurdistan.<<

I would suspect this is true, in some degree, for every arms selling nation in the world, the US included.

>>The Russian government, too, is seeking lucrative contracts in the Iraqi market and is being rewarded with such contracts for its slithery behaviour at the UN. <<

They've HAD lucrative contracts. MOST first and second world countries have lucrative contracts with third world countries. It's called exploitation. Tends to build up resentment in third world countries against first and second world countries.


Suppose you lived next door to a couple. You hear a lot of loud arguments, and the woman often has bruises. He also glares at you, and you worry he might get violent. But, he never actually has been violent towards you, and you've never actually caught him beating his wife.
Do you have the right to walk into his house and shoot him and his son in the head?