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Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left

Book by Christopher Hitchens · 6 quotes · Leftism, Terrorism, United States

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Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left Quotes

“Watching the towers fall in New York, with civilians incinerated on the planes and in the buildings, I felt something that I couldn’t analyze at first and didn't fully grasp (partly because I was far from my family in Washington, who had a very grueling day) until the day itself was nearly over. I am only slightly embarrassed to tell you that this was a feeling of exhilaration. Here we are then, I was thinking, in a war to the finish between everything I love and everything I hate. Fine. We will win and they will lose. A pity that we let them pick the time and place of the challenge, but we can and we will make up for that.”

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Book:Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left
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“The 'pre-emption' versus 'prevention' debate may be a distinction without much difference. The important thing is to have it understood that the United States is absolutely serious. The jihadists have in the past bragged that America is too feeble and corrupt to fight. A lot is involved in disproving that delusion on their part.”

WarUnited StatesIslamDebateDelusionIraq WarWar On TerrorJihadIslamic TerrorismPreventive WarBush DoctrinePreemptive War
Book:Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left
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“There is a noticeable element of the pathological in some current leftist critiques, which I tend to attribute to feelings of guilt allied to feelings of impotence. Not an attractive combination, because it results in self-hatred.”

PsychologyGuiltIraq WarWar On TerrorImpotenceSelf HatredPathologyLeftismAntiwar Movement
Book:Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left
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“Some lurid things have been said about me—that I am a racist, a hopeless alcoholic, a closet homosexual and so forth—that I leave to others to decide the truth of. I'd only point out, though, that if true these accusations must also have been true when I was still on the correct side, and that such shocking deformities didn't seem to count for so much then. Arguing with the Stalinist mentality for more than three decades now, and doing a bit of soapboxing and street-corner speaking on and off, has meant that it takes quite a lot to hurt my tender feelings, or bruise my milk-white skin.”

RacismHomosexualityAlcoholismIraq WarWar On TerrorInsultsStalinismEdward SaidAd HominemClosetedAlexander Cockburn
Book:Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left
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“The President is also captured in a well-worn TV news clip, making a boilerplate response to a question on terrorism and then asking the reporters to watch his drive. Well, that's what you get if you catch the President on a golf course. If Eisenhower had done this, as he often did, it would have been presented as calm statesmanship. If Clinton had done it, as he often did, it would have shown his charm.”

United StatesTelevisionGolfTerrorismCharmHypocrisyWar On TerrorDouble StandardsStatesmanshipBill ClintonGeorge W BushDwight D Eisenhower
Book:Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left
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“I absolutely refuse to associate myself with anyone who cannot discern the essential night-and-day difference between theocratic fascism and liberal secular democracy, even less do I want to engage with those who are incapable of recognizing the basic moral distinction between premeditated mass murder and unintentional killing.”

War On TerrorCollateral DamageAntiwar MovementMoral EquivalenceFalse Equivalence
Book:Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left
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