(Note to literalists: the Watched column presently contains only a smattering of 'warblogs' because the facilitator of the template-change--Dr. Menlo--is not very familiar with them, and will be adding more as they are sent to him. Also, this blog may contain areas of allusion, satire, subtext, context and possibly even a dash of the surreal: wannabe lit-crits beware.)
Control
[Watch this space for: Pentagon and Petroleum, The Media is only as Liberal as the Corporations Who Own Them, Wash Down With, and Recalcify]
WARBLOGGER WATCH
Friday, March 21, 2003
I've received much e-mail of late regarding my frequent mention of Christopher Hitchens' apparent self-administration of heroic volumes of alcohol. Let me note simply that Hitchens claims not to be an alcoholic. If he expects to have his statements about the necessity or even desirability of war taken at face value, I don't think it unreasonable to extend that expectation to his reports on his relation to alcohol.
That said, Hitchens has been known to drink on the job, and the increasing similarity of his output to the sputterings of a barstool-bound jingo lead me to believe that the fellow's been upping the dose. Why he shouldn't suffer the same sanction for showing up unfit for work is beyond me. Personally, I wouldn't trust an inebriate to counsel my teenage son on which community college to apply to. Why I should privilege Hitchens and let him offer counsel urging a murderous and criminal campaign is beyond me.
I don't know how many he had before filing today's Mirror piece. It proclaims of Saddam Hussein that "He's Hitler, he is Stalin" and asks "why did we tolerate him for so long?" Ignoring for the time being that at the time of Gulf War I Hitchens sneered at the suggestion that Saddam was "suddenly 'worse than Hitler.'" What's key is Hitchens' massive feat of patriotic endeavor, taking up the slack occasioned by a contemporary - but certainly only temporary - absence of Creel Commissions and Hill & Knowltons. Saddam is poised to spring on Iraqi contrarians. In fact, he would "rip off their eyelids, tear out their nails, dip them in acid and then kick them to death." At least the non-theocratic-fascistic Alan Dershowitz would make the concession to decency of using sterilized needles.
The sad irony never occurs to Hitchens that - in a best case, that is, unrealistic scenario - the present War Against Terror would accrue to the Iraqis liberties which are each day being stripped of Americans. But hey, as long as Chomsky's still disseminating his heresies, we're all free. And hey, looking at how rosily things are going in Afghanistan, with its robust public finances and innumerable freedoms, the napalm-enabled "liberation" will be an unqualified boon to the Iraqis. posted by Anonymous3:24 PM
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The Watchers
WBW: Keeping track of the war exhortations of the warbloggers.
