Further to this post, you can read here (if you take the time to register) what The Dude said to Lynda Hurst of the Toronto Star. He was lying down while saying it, but don't get the wrong idea:
He still... views himself as "socialist in attitude," if not in politics.Then, here's an edited transcript of the talk Hitchens gave while in the city. An excerpt:
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What lies at the core of his support for war (if not President George W. Bush's handling of it) is the conviction that Iraq is a critical front in the battle between "secular democracy and theocratic fascism."
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"Those who believe it is possible to lead an ethical life without religion, who are agnostic or atheist, who believe in the separation of church and state must learn to fight back. We too have strong convictions, we too can be offended, insulted and annoyed, and we have to say we're not going to put up with it. Our opinions must be taken into account..."
Peace? The ignition of the Kuwaiti oil fields by Saddam Hussein, the deaths of a million and a half people in the Iran-Iraq War, the genocide in Kurdistan, the planned destruction of an entire people and the erasure of its culture taking place in our full view in northern Iraq - these don't deserve to be called episodes in a period of peace.(Thanks: PH.)That's why I must indict the realist mentality, first for its cynicism, and second for its naiveté. The two things go very well together...
I've taken my side with these comrades in Iraq and in Kurdistan and in Egypt and in Lebanon and in Syria, and I'm going to be with them win or lose, or whether they're mired in a long struggle. I've picked my turf.