Brilliant. What's brilliant is how he backtracked and apologized for all of this, morphed into a full-blown Iraq Invasion cheerleader and all around neocon twat, and is still lionized on TH-cam. Never mind his celebration of NA genocide. You people are hopeless.
I remember watching this interview in '91 while it was happening. The part I remembered most was the Moses comment and how brazenly impudent it was. In retrospect Hitchens was right about that war. It was the first blow at destabilizing the Middle-East which has given rise to the extremism and refugee problems we are suffering today. Since then we have also come to learn that before Iraq invaded Kuwait, Sadam called a meeting with the American Ambassador April Glaspie to ask what the U.S. opinion was regarding an invasion. He was told, "the U.S. has no opinion", pretty much giving him the go-ahead. It would seem Iraq was goaded into invading Kuwait.
I certainly agree with this. The lack of civility and integrity from the media currently is humiliating although I find it interesting that hitch offers a similar critique of the media in this interview. I suppose it is a matter of degree. I don’t remember feeling very strongly about the failing of the media in the 90’s.
heston, the white supremacist & former president of the nra, supporters of gun control when the black panthers armed themselves, now of course, opposers of gun control. the third most influential lobbying organisation in the u.s & supporter of the fascist sociopath trump, to the tune of 30m
Jazzkeyboardist1 you’re absolutely obsessed with his bisexuality, aren’t you? I’ve read so many of your comments and they all mentioned this. Who cares? Who cares if he’s bisexual? Apart from you? It’s a non issue. Are you bisexual? Why are you so angry about this? Do you think you’re going to change minds? If not....why are you bothering? Seems like a redundant activity really. I’m not being rude, I’m just stumped as to why you detest him so much. I’ve seen other comments that are hateful that you’ve written. He’s dead.....you can let it go now, whatever it is you’re angry about.
Jazzkeyboardist1 and, you said on a previous comment I read that you don’t call people names first. Calling people mental midgets proves this is untrue. Can you converse without being rude? Or not?
Jazzkeyboardist1 I didn’t say I loved Hitchens. I just have noticed how angry and spiteful you are. You speak like you’re perfect. Are you perfect? What secret do you have hidden in your closet, and would you like me to hold it against you after death? Princess Diana had many affairs. She was human and whilst I don’t judge her, I don’t push facts aside. Bill Clinton admits to having an affair. You’re writing, mocking Hitchens...no? So, you’re a hypocrite, right? You say you don’t like him for speaking about others affairs.....yet, you speak about his affairs. That to me is a hypocrite. The wars? I didn’t support either. The fallout of it has taken so many lives. It was all about oil and the lie of weapons of mass destruction was a lie. None were ever found. You’re not “owning” him at all. HE IS DEAD. who are you owning? Really? He doesn’t exist anymore. It’s not who you’re ranting about, I don’t really care, it’s the way you do it. You did write that you don’t call people names first....yet, you did just that. You are angry. It’s obvious. And, what does it do to you that you feel the need to be so hung up on a dead man? Counterproductive isn’t it? Did you know him personally? If you didn’t.....let it go. You do come across as slightly unhinged. And it’s fascinating but a head scratcher at the same time. It’s a fruitless effort you’re making. Intriguing!
nopotential Listen Moses; your knowledge is lacking, and you want to bomb Iraq to the stone age therefore you probably should rethink your your views on Operation Desert Storm.
redryan20000 He still called G.W. Bush a low I.Q, unlettered man, with eyes standing close to each other. But he did change his mind on the first Iraq war.
Jazzkeyboardist1 I didn’t realize all the members of Congress and the president are atheists. Someone should inform George Bush he’s an atheist according to some TH-cam commenters.
Hitch vpublicly changed his mind& argued against himself here & vs all Islamic fundamentalism soon after this proving Hestons premise was very sound!. Heston maybe didn't know his geography of Arabis Vwell, but he sure as hell knew more than Hitch about weapons& the threat Iraq posed to🇺🇸 etc supporting Al queda+ at that point regularly firing scud missiles@🇮🇱. Heston was actually a progressive& a champion of freedom,democracy+ equality, he only became portrayed latterly as Conservative due to close association with the NRA. If you consider yourself a progressive of any shade you should be glad nobody managed to prise anything from his cold dead hands.
But you didn´t comment on the fact that a few years later he was suddenly in favour of a war against Iraq and America deciding what they could develop!
@@burtingtuneI mean, a, there's a little event called SEPTEMBER 11TH that changed a lot for a lot of people, and b, one doesn't have to agree with someone one hundred percent of the time to appreciate and miss them.
I like Hitch but that was pretty pathetic .... responding to Heston's claim that he was resorting to ad hominem attacks with an ad hominem attack. Should have just said that Heston failed the geography lesson.
You could tell he was reading from notes. Just in his voice alone. I don't know why they had him on as a guest, to debate Hitchens? It was such an unusual pairing.
@@ahhdodbegyd Heston played Moses in the Ten Commandments, an American film. It's a play on the religiosity of conservatives and the fact that some people likely view his playing Moses as some kind of authority lmao. I like the guys movies but he's a actor and a human at the end of the day.
@@Cleisthenes607 it is odd...how is heston an expert on the gulf war and as christopher clearly shows he had no idea of the geography of the persian gulf area...hitchens as usual was absolutely spot on with his observations .
@doctorsocrates4413 Hitch vpublicly changed his mind& argued against himself here & vs all Islamic fundamentalism soon after this proving Hestons premise was very sound!. Heston maybe didn't know his geography of Arabis Vwell, but he sure as hell knew more than Hitch about weapons& the threat Iraq posed to🇺🇸 etc supporting Al queda+ at that point regularly firing scud missiles@🇮🇱. Heston was actually a progressive& a champion of freedom,democracy+ equality, he only became portrayed latterly as Conservative due to close association with the NRA. If you consider yourself a progressive of any shade you should be glad nobody managed to prise anything from his cold dead hands.
Such a clever retort, Heston accused him of ad hominem, about which he was incorrect because his demonstrable lack of knowledge of the region was NOT an ad hominem,, so then Hitch then make an actual ad hominem as a joke, was so Hitch slap in the face to the moronic war hawk Heston.
conservative rhetoric is always "we must end this war quickly" and never "we must stop the bloodshed" because the unsaid part is "by getting what we want through any means necessary"
“ Oh I don’t know if you’re in favor of BOMBING a country you might pay it the complement of knowing where it is” LOL dead hahaha just such hilarious delivery
I dislike Heston, but this shows how media has devolved. These men had a debate without yelling and screaming over each other, or being limited to a 5 minute segment.
This was pretty ridiculous as well though to be fair. Heston had no business being anywhere neat a television studio debating a topic he clearly had no idea about
I did. LOL. And that was after Chomsky on Hitchens morphed into Galloway...Guess if Christopher couldn't beat 'em he joined them. After all, as he noted, what chance did he have against a media that gave equal time to batshit crazy tactics like Heston? But yeah, came to see Christopher in his prime doing good work.
@@dougchapman9138 to change one's opinion is a response to reason & Hitch supported intervention in iraq, not a war & certainly not for the same reasons of the administration, nor their tactics. Galloway is somewhat more predictable in his bias, & never once outwitted Hitch.
@@dyschromotopia He did, in fact, support the Iraq War and was parroting the same arguments as Bush and Blair were making. In fact, even after the invasion took place and no WMDs were found, he claimed that maybe Saddam sent them to another country.
Hitchens was a very clever man however he was very dismissive of people who had legitimate and valid opinions that were different to his own , he often made very valid points but he was also rude and childlike, personally I think Heston comes out of this exchange in a far better light regardless of whether you agree with him or not.
@@neilcarpenter2669honestly, Heston came off as a smug warmonger who considered pushback personal attacks If you've ever sene Hitchens before i debate, you'd know the hairpiece comment was a warning shot
Thank you so much for posting this. I wasn't aware this existed and am listening now for the first time. This is incredible. I have a deep appreciation for Charlton Heston and Christopher Hitchens. Obviously, Hitchens is an absolutely razor-sharp wit and Heston is a very talented actor. Here Hitchens is being as smart as usual, and probably right. Irony hangs over Hitchens head, a decade and a few later, Hitchens will be arguing in favor of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He rationalized his change of position based on his increasing worry over authoritarian fundamentalism, Wahhabism in this case. Heston is doing better than a lot of people that have been across a table with Hitchens. Frankly, holding Heston to the same standard as Hitchens is impossible so I think he does okay. Thanks a bunch. I wonder if Hitchens comments here could be turned into a Hitch v Hitch over the Iraq War. I expect this Hitch might win that one too.
I agree that if you don't know much about the subject and you come to this as a complete neutral with no background information, and if you judge it purely on rhetoric and style...then Heston comes across as calm and patient in the face of provocation. But if you actually listen to the arguments he puts forward, and if you take in just how condescending, hypocritical, callous and lazy(never mind geographically illiterate) some of the things he says actually are, then it all falls apart.
You’re right. Hitchens would have still defended his position on protecting civilians though. But he’s right - the whole western world owned the media coverage and rarely was the war questioned at that time. And why put an ignorant actor on tv to debate an informed and sharp journalist?
Heston won that debate ultimately though, and very decisively - I think Hitchens later wrote a book about the gas attacks he referred to. Also Hitchens was obnoxious and uncouth here, lacking the dignity shown by Heston.
been waiting years to see this, it was impossible to find until now. upon checking for it once again, here it finally is. it had been a long time since i had discovered something "new" from hitchens. for a fleeting second it felt like he was still alive, though this happened before i was even born, which makes that a bit ironic.
+Volound even a moment of feeling like I've seen something new of Christopher, no matter how old, is worth more to me than hours of talking heads on both sides of an issue.
@@purplegorilla9592 I was 36 at the time and am 63 now - am my opinion the Iraqi War was wrong and waste of American Lives (All wars are a waste of lives really, the only ones that are wasted are those who vote for it since they are safe at home, Read War is a Racket by Lt. Gen. Smedley Butler twice decorated with Medal of Honor Here is a link to down the book, short and easy to read, Since reading it I have found none of the wars fought to be of any good, starting with WWl, the winners are the munitions manufacturers, the loosers are the wives, daughters, sons and other family members of the solders, chrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.pdf
Personally I thought both guys looked good here lol. Hitchens may have embarrassed Heston multiple times, but at least Heston took it with a smile and dignity. He laughed at hitchens jokes, didn't get hysterical or offended like someone would today and even if he was unqualified to be there he did just give his opinion. Maybe a bit naive to go head to head with hitch but I enjoyed it
I think it would be more accurate to say he showed no offense. He kept his composure. You never know how an actor truly feels. Heston was one of the greatest.
League of his own hypocrite: against the minor war against Iraq but in favour of the one that virtually destroyed it. Or did you conveniently forget that?
Surprising to see Hitchens' stance on Desert Storm here considering that he backed the considerably more destructive second invasion of Iraq with such enthusiasm.
He deeply apologized for that mistake. This is what I loved about him. He had intergrity and he always apologized when he was in the wrong. People like Moses here never apologized for anything in their lives. That is the difference between Hitchens and other hypocrites. He believed in truth and justice and not being right or wrong.
"So, you seriously mean to say that we would not be living in a better or safer world if the coalition forces had turned around and sailed or flown home in the spring of 2003?" " That’s exactly what I mean to say."
@Jazzkeyboardist1 why do you pulled unfortunate suicide of his mother... wtf do you know about her reasons - and you point as chris... you are pathetic prick
It would probably only be interesting as a study of polemics, since Hitchens had shown himself in later years to be a master of duplicity, in the archaic sense.
He also, famously, administered waterboarding on himself around the time of the Abu Ghraib scandal, declaring it to be absolute torture. With all due respect, Hitchens's flaws are athletically swept under the table because we love to beat up on the likes of Heston.
@@Sibyl3n3 "He also, famously, administered waterboarding on himself around the time of the Abu Ghraib scandal, declaring it to be absolute torture." What's the issue here? Waterboarding IS torture.
@@Sibyl3n3 You can support getting rid of fascist genocidal crime families that own whole countries and agree that waterboarding is torture. They’re not binary.
@@RikerLovesWorf It's not a philosophical or logical qualm. It's the deft manipulation of Hitchen's language and the implications of his later actions. Listen again to the barbs and epithets used. ("Reaganite hacks," etc.) By framing opposing voices this way, you are resorting to a zero-sum conclusion. Not much nuance there, is there?. Further, that Hitchens would volubly skewer someone in support of a war that he would eventually find merit in much later, using these kinds of barbs, is worth serious question. This is to say nothing of the exhibitionism and absurdity of filming yourself being momentarily "waterboarded," which vastly trivializes the suffering of ACTUAL victims of that procedure. Once again: Hitchen has his flaws, and (as usual) no one is listening to them.
8.06 - "I can't understand why Reaganite hacks of this kind are being consulted at a time when thousands of civilians are being killed..." "keep your hairpiece on..." You've got to admire the stones on the chap...
Even though he is not mentioned here by name I have seen enough of his comments to know who you were referring to when you said "He called Christopher, Chrissy".😄@@Amor_fati.Memento_Mori
I think Hitchens circa 1991 would have been against the 2nd war in Iraq as well, and rightly so. But it's interesting to see how differently news broadcasts were conducted years ago. Today, this would have been a 5 minute bit with both sites shouting talking points over each other.
Seems he considered Iran the larger menace at this time given Saddam was considered a secularist at this point. He extrapolated his love of fellow travelers Jurds to the Shi'ite majority in the second invasion.
In my parents day, you actually knew geography so you knew where these countries were and are located! Looking back on all this, Heston was a government tool brilliantly used in propaganda. Hitchens was actually the voice of reason on these matters back then but we couldn't see it back then. Sad but true!
Just come across this. It's not everyday that you see and hear the absolute distinction between an erudite, educated, knowledgable and wordly individual and an actor who plays the same character irrespective of the role, a one trick ham actor.
I think he was pretty consistent on the point. Read his full arguments about Iraq. He was neither uncritically gun-haw nor a Bushi-ite of any kind. Rather, Saddam proved to be worse than even the most ambitious Iranian mass murderers.
No, it’s not sad at all. Intelligent people understand that the world changes and there is nuance in events as complex as diplomacy in the Middle East. He was right here, and he was right in 2001.. Religious authoritarianism was not defeated with ISIS and that gave rise to the Taliban. His best work came when he paid less attention to politics and focused on destroying religion
@@willnash7907 He got demonized as a Neo Con, and certainly his idolatry of Thomas Jefferson was appalling. But I understand why he wanted to kill Saddam, who met his end rightfully in a spider hole. George W Bush initiated the Second Civil War in America by lifting the ban on assault rifles. The Iraq War is a touchy subject. At a certain point though, someone had to kill Saddam. But the same could be said of Thomas Jefferson.
+Kasper999 bin laden cited the stationing of US troops on the arabian peninsula in 1990/91 as one of the key reasons he wanted to wage a war on America, so Hitchens was right about the consequences of the first gulf war.
It's bizarre to hear Hitch argue this position - the polar opposite of what he later argued. A mashup video clip of old Hitch vs. young Hitch arguing both sides of this question would be interesting.
I thought the same thing. I love Hitch, but I think he was ineffective here with Heston. Interesting to see an earlier Hitchens. Definitely still honing his oratory powers.
If you read his collection of Essays, 'Love Poverty & War' There are about a dozen or so on War, listed before & after September (9/11) this polar opposite Hitch would make a bit more sense
This will go over many Americans heads, but Heston's answers were basically David Brent floundering in the Quiz episode. The hash of the map question, the filling air-space with useless historical quotes he's memorised from a book when faced with someone who actually knows history. It's glorious.
Wow Christopher Hitchens' argument against the Gulf War in 1991, especially the bit about Iran becoming the dominant power in the region, was absolutely wrong in 1991 but would have been absolutely right in 2002-03 when he took the exact opposite position. God Rest his soul, and Charlton Heston's as well. Time moves on, the world changes, and we all pass out of it and leave our wealth and our glory to others whom we know not.
@@smullaney84 Hitchens opposes the war that actually makes sense: the one where Iraq invades another country and occupies, and then supports the one that doesn't make any sense: invading and occupying Iraq when it was just sitting there doing absolutely doing nothing. Explain that to me.
And every single prediction from Hitchens has proven true. Yet, still, we have the people that supported this war running the USA as if they are able to understand actions and consequences.
Yes how dare we defend a UN ally and Arab league partner from a fascist crime family that wholly owned Iraq. These monsters that hated Saddam Hussein’s genocidal ass are in the government. Oh noooooooo
Thank you so much for this, been waiting for over five years for this: ever since i heard Galloway, in his debate with Hitchens, mention the Bahrain moment.
9/11 absolutely changed hitchens. Here he is saying the gulf war is pointless and condemning American intervention. He would go on to strongly support the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and would condemn saddam Hussein in the strongest terms.
Heston: Footage to come out of Iran . . . Hitch: Iraq Heston: Iraq I mean. Do you think I didn't know the difference? Hitch: I know you didn't. 12:41 Jesus Hitch is ruthlessly getting good play from the geography lesson
Two very important developments: 1) His experience in visiting Iraq and talking to people who suffered under Saddam Hussein's regime. He was already breaking with the antiwar left over the Kosovo intervention, which he thought was justified ("take the side of the victim.") 2) 9/11 for him highlighted the danger of Islamist extremists, whom Iraq was enabling. To him Islamism was a right-wing fascism grounded in a different worldview.
@@fre2725 Indeed, he was never entrenched in some anti-war position. In his younger days he cogently argued the case for WWII without knocking up a sweat. He was anti-fascist and anti-authoritarian.
As much as I admire Christopher Hitchens, RIP, I can't but mention the fact that even men of his caliber occasionally change their mind on major issues. This happened a few years on, when Mr Hitchens, upon finding out how tyrannical Saddam Hussein's regime was, convincingly and even passionately argued in favour of war against Iraq.
Hitchens was brilliant here, simply brilliant. The debate with Galloway should be seen in comparison to this. 9/11 changed Hitchens' philosophy a great deal as his writings amply demonstrate.
Galloway crushed Hitchens like a noxious insect. Of course, given that everything that came out of Hitchens' mouth was an infantile lie, that wasn't very difficult to do.
I felt a little sorry for Heston (never thought I’d say that) but Heston was a fool for agreeing to debate this with someone like Hitchens. Totally out of his depth and clueless.
All wars are banksters wars. What’s sad is that Hitch would never even admit that himself. He just kept the false narrative going. He was no different than any of the people he debated.
Hitchens' approach is a bit naive. He commented condescendingly on Gen. Schwarzkopf's cutting off electricity to the capitol as if he thought it was a paintball match and not a war. Even Churchill said that the better the general, the more he relies on maneuvers and the less on slaughter. Cutting off electricity and water is hardly dropping the A-bomb.
Depends on necessity. He later woke up to the scourge of Islam, and it's cult-like danger for the planet. Their "jihad" and their deep hatred of "infidels" will be a problem for the next 100 years, until possibly someday they can have their own Enlightenment from within. Islam wants the entire planet. Sharia everywhere. Period. This is not some fringe attitude either. It is the polled viewpoint of well over 80% of muslims worldwide. Even 200,000 muslim women go through having their clitoris removed - in secular/free WESTERN countries. It's in the tens of millions, per year, worldwide. As we all babble and worry about being "racist" ... Islam is seeding the west with immigrants and refugees... slowly but surely... never assimilating... setting up little Sharia middle-easts everywhere. It's a long game, and they are only concerned about their results in 50-100 years. Not the present. We're blindly letting it happen.
@@abandoned-mines-novascotia Indeed, you can trace his resistance to Islam back to its attack on his friend Salman Rushdie and freedom of speech more generally. He was royally pissed off about that and even more pissed off by the apologists for Islam in the Western nations who lined up to slam Rushdie or Danish cartoonists or anyone who offended Islamic sensibilities by pointing out that their religion had a theocratic wing which was festooned with violent lunatics.
I'm delighted to say that Mr. Hitchens and I seem to agree... because his informed analysis and debating prowess are kicking shite out of my opinionated conservative drivel.
All Heston had was memorised lines.... you could tell he'd looked up things like a quote from Gladstone and one from von Clausewitz, but didn't know shit about either.... all just being an actor and spewing out other people's words and his own bigotry. That was a debating bloodbath, made even more fun by that trademark anger and glee of Hitchens. You could tell he had utter contempt for Heston and wanted to tear him apart with his words, delivered with sheer disdain. Beautiful.
"It's not everyday one gets to debate the middle-east with Moses himself". Brilliance from Hitchens.
'With all due modesty...' hahaha
@@samsavojbolagi5513 The nine hundred thousand Iraqi lives lost in the invasion does not get mentioned.
@@chhuntley5616They deserved it. Bunch of violent jihdist scum. The only problem was there wasn't a higher death count.
'you think I don't know the difference ?' heston
'i know you don't know the difference!' hitch
brilliant stuff - haven't had a good laugh in days
Brilliant. What's brilliant is how he backtracked and apologized for all of this, morphed into a full-blown Iraq Invasion cheerleader and all around neocon twat, and is still lionized on TH-cam. Never mind his celebration of NA genocide. You people are hopeless.
Its not everyday you get to debate the affairs of the middle east with Moses himself. lol.
+Mohamed Il-Nasrani I really laugh at this one! :))) :D
+Mohamed Il-Nasrani hahahaha..like it
Well funny
I remember watching this interview in '91 while it was happening. The part I remembered most was the Moses comment and how brazenly impudent it was.
In retrospect Hitchens was right about that war. It was the first blow at destabilizing the Middle-East which has given rise to the extremism and refugee problems we are suffering today.
Since then we have also come to learn that before Iraq invaded Kuwait, Sadam
called a meeting with the American Ambassador April Glaspie to ask what the U.S. opinion was regarding an invasion. He was told, "the U.S. has no opinion",
pretty much giving him the go-ahead. It would seem Iraq was goaded into invading Kuwait.
@Paul Catania The so-called ”refugee problems” are nothing else than a plan developed and implemented by Western elite to get workforce at low costs.
Got to give moderator Bob Cain a lot of credit for how he handled that. Don't see that kind of integrity anymore.
agreed
Yep Mr sir did great
I certainly agree with this. The lack of civility and integrity from the media currently is humiliating although I find it interesting that hitch offers a similar critique of the media in this interview. I suppose it is a matter of degree. I don’t remember feeling very strongly about the failing of the media in the 90’s.
Yeah. Miss that type of journalism. That guy impressed me thr most. He let them debate without butting in.
Agree
I'd like to see 1991 Christopher Hitchens debate 2003 Christopher hitchens on the war.
The war? Which one? He never changed his mind on either war.
@@PresidentialWinnerYes he did, and said as much.
I like how in the first minute Hitch predicted the next thirty years of history.
But he then supported the war in Iraq during Dubya’s term.
If I were ever asked to appear and present my position on ANY subject where Hitchens was my adversary, I'd call in sick.
OMG
Why do why give actors so much credibility?
Because they are famous?
He has no clue
heston, the white supremacist & former president of the nra, supporters of gun control when the black panthers armed themselves, now of course, opposers of gun control. the third most influential lobbying organisation in the u.s & supporter of the fascist sociopath trump, to the tune of 30m
Jazzkeyboardist1 you’re absolutely obsessed with his bisexuality, aren’t you? I’ve read so many of your comments and they all mentioned this. Who cares? Who cares if he’s bisexual? Apart from you? It’s a non issue. Are you bisexual? Why are you so angry about this? Do you think you’re going to change minds? If not....why are you bothering? Seems like a redundant activity really. I’m not being rude, I’m just stumped as to why you detest him so much. I’ve seen other comments that are hateful that you’ve written. He’s dead.....you can let it go now, whatever it is you’re angry about.
Jazzkeyboardist1 and, you said on a previous comment I read that you don’t call people names first. Calling people mental midgets proves this is untrue. Can you converse without being rude? Or not?
Jazzkeyboardist1 I didn’t say I loved Hitchens. I just have noticed how angry and spiteful you are. You speak like you’re perfect. Are you perfect? What secret do you have hidden in your closet, and would you like me to hold it against you after death? Princess Diana had many affairs. She was human and whilst I don’t judge her, I don’t push facts aside. Bill Clinton admits to having an affair. You’re writing, mocking Hitchens...no? So, you’re a hypocrite, right? You say you don’t like him for speaking about others affairs.....yet, you speak about his affairs. That to me is a hypocrite. The wars? I didn’t support either. The fallout of it has taken so many lives. It was all about oil and the lie of weapons of mass destruction was a lie. None were ever found. You’re not “owning” him at all. HE IS DEAD. who are you owning? Really? He doesn’t exist anymore. It’s not who you’re ranting about, I don’t really care, it’s the way you do it. You did write that you don’t call people names first....yet, you did just that. You are angry. It’s obvious. And, what does it do to you that you feel the need to be so hung up on a dead man? Counterproductive isn’t it? Did you know him personally? If you didn’t.....let it go. You do come across as slightly unhinged. And it’s fascinating but a head scratcher at the same time. It’s a fruitless effort you’re making. Intriguing!
@Jazzkeyboardist1 you are away with the fairies.
"Do you know which countries border Iraq?", Classic Hitchens
MexxPowers Kuwait, Bahrain, Turkey, Russia, Iran, DUH
nopotential Listen Moses; your knowledge is lacking, and you want to bomb Iraq to the stone age therefore you probably should rethink your your views on Operation Desert Storm.
America, capital of the world.
+MexxPowers although ironically in more recent/later years he would've shunned that kind of "glib" liberal critique of the war.
redryan20000 He still called G.W. Bush a low I.Q, unlettered man, with eyes standing close to each other. But he did change his mind on the first Iraq war.
Hi, I'm actor Troy Mcclure. You might remember from such interviews as......
Great Simpsons reference!
Lovely work.
"You truly are the king of kings."
Hitchens stamped Heston good. He made Heston look like the naive war-mongering actor he was.
And then Hitchens became a naive war monger.
Travis Harkins ohhh triggered much ??
Jazzkeyboardist1 I didn’t realize all the members of Congress and the president are atheists. Someone should inform George Bush he’s an atheist according to some TH-cam commenters.
@@TheIncognitusMe and where is Iraq nuclear weapons? lie from 1991 till 2003...
Hitch vpublicly changed his mind& argued against himself here & vs all Islamic fundamentalism soon after this proving Hestons premise was very sound!. Heston maybe didn't know his geography of Arabis Vwell, but he sure as hell knew more than Hitch about weapons& the threat Iraq posed to🇺🇸 etc supporting Al queda+ at that point regularly firing scud missiles@🇮🇱. Heston was actually a progressive& a champion of freedom,democracy+ equality, he only became portrayed latterly as Conservative due to close association with the NRA. If you consider yourself a progressive of any shade you should be glad nobody managed to prise anything from his cold dead hands.
The policies of young Hitchens was awesome 👏
Yeah & perhaps his latter views hold more credibility, given his earlier position...eh?!
*were
Fantastic, utterly fantastic. Hitchens the iconoclast is so sorely missed.
But you didn´t comment on the fact that a few years later he was suddenly in favour of a war against Iraq and America deciding what they could develop!
@@burtingtuneUnfortunately Christopher Hitchens was a hypocrite plainly. Something that all his fanboys could never truly see
@@burtingtuneI mean, a, there's a little event called SEPTEMBER 11TH that changed a lot for a lot of people, and b, one doesn't have to agree with someone one hundred percent of the time to appreciate and miss them.
Hitchens' later support for the War in Iraq was perhaps one of the few dark spots of Hitchens' reputation. He was right here and wrong later.
Proof and link's please sir.
@@TheMoon-mc9nk th-cam.com/video/AjNJUilKhpc/w-d-xo.html
@@theolima8929 Thanks for taking the time.
But he did warn at about 15:10, that a return "having switched sides" would be needed. He understood this shit better than most.
He changed his opinion when he perceived Muslim threat, plus learned he was Jewish, which he write about in Vanity Fair
BTW, it was pretty brave of Heston to take a wild stab at the geography quiz! LOL!
+River Morrison Brave... but pathetic
+River Morrison Brave... but pathetic
+River Morrison Hardly. Don't confuse arrogance with bravery.
worser than Bahrain...he thought Russia bordered Iraq lol
@Jesse Brennan Do you mean the Americans who do not possess a Passport? Or, those Americans who do own and use a Passport.
“Keep your hairpiece on”. Man, Hitch was bitchy in his youth. Love it!
I like Hitch but that was pretty pathetic .... responding to Heston's claim that he was resorting to ad hominem attacks with an ad hominem attack. Should have just said that Heston failed the geography lesson.
Bitchier as he got older.
@@jeffcahill5722 If you didn't know this yet, let me tell you a secret; Hitch didn't care about civility. He said it was overrated.
@@jeffcahill5722 i think the point was to show heston what a real ad hominem attack is. Before that he never attacked him ad hominem.
@@PresidentialWinner As was he.
Moses got Hitchslapped!
shame a little more than a decade ahead, hitchens would be vomiting the same bromides FOR war
But but but muh ad hominem .....
"You educated maniac...you blew me up with informed eloquence.
Damn you! *_God.damn.Hitch.to.Hell"_*
Outstanding
The moderators were much better back in the day,as opposed to now.
OMG. I have waited YEARS to see this debate. Thank you, thank you.
Heston is clueless, memorizing scripts is his forte, thoughts superficial.
You could tell he was reading from notes. Just in his voice alone. I don't know why they had him on as a guest, to debate Hitchens? It was such an unusual pairing.
I liked when Mr. Hitchens was accused of giving a high school geography test which Mr. Heston had just failed.
" Keep your hairpiece on " Good old Hitchens .lets face it, many Americans thought Heston was Moses., and probably still do.
Brilliantly quick mind - still laughing hair piece omg !
Moses, if such a person ever existed, was a bronze age lunatic who thought he was hearing voices.... to Heston as Moses is ... apt.
I don't get it can someone explain it please?
@@ahhdodbegyd Heston played Moses in the Ten Commandments, an American film. It's a play on the religiosity of conservatives and the fact that some people likely view his playing Moses as some kind of authority lmao. I like the guys movies but he's a actor and a human at the end of the day.
Thank you so much for uploading this. "It wouldn't take a minute!"
Seemed odd that an old Hollywood actor was perceived as being an expert on the iraq war.
Not odd given an actor and a gameshow host have been President.
@@Cleisthenes607 it is odd...how is heston an expert on the gulf war and as christopher clearly shows he had no idea of the geography of the persian gulf area...hitchens as usual was absolutely spot on with his observations .
@doctorsocrates4413 Hitch vpublicly changed his mind& argued against himself here & vs all Islamic fundamentalism soon after this proving Hestons premise was very sound!. Heston maybe didn't know his geography of Arabis Vwell, but he sure as hell knew more than Hitch about weapons& the threat Iraq posed to🇺🇸 etc supporting Al queda+ at that point regularly firing scud missiles@🇮🇱. Heston was actually a progressive& a champion of freedom,democracy+ equality, he only became portrayed latterly as Conservative due to close association with the NRA. If you consider yourself a progressive of any shade you should be glad nobody managed to prise anything from his cold dead hands.
“Reaganite hacks” is a perfect description of Heston’s ilk.
And farage
"keep your hairpiece on."
I’m afraid that comment was an example of Hitchens losing his cool. I’m sure he regretted it soon after.
Jazzkeyboardist1 no
When a headshot is a low blow. Unnecessary.
Such a clever retort, Heston accused him of ad hominem, about which he was incorrect because his demonstrable lack of knowledge of the region was NOT an ad hominem,, so then Hitch then make an actual ad hominem as a joke, was so Hitch slap in the face to the moronic war hawk Heston.
@@fuckfannyfiddlefart nothing clever about that. Hitch is clever enough not to have to resort that sort of childish insult
Notice how Heston said that he's worried about US soldiers and Israelis, but not a single word about iraqi civilians?
They don’t view them as human.
Typical old school racist. Its not unusual for his generation.
conservative rhetoric is always "we must end this war quickly" and never "we must stop the bloodshed" because the unsaid part is "by getting what we want through any means necessary"
"Take your stinking words off me you damn dirty intellectual."
Witty, very witty
👏👏
“ Oh I don’t know if you’re in favor of BOMBING a country you might pay it the complement of knowing where it is” LOL dead hahaha just such hilarious delivery
Fortunately, thats not required.
I dislike Heston, but this shows how media has devolved. These men had a debate without yelling and screaming over each other, or being limited to a 5 minute segment.
This was pretty ridiculous as well though to be fair. Heston had no business being anywhere neat a television studio debating a topic he clearly had no idea about
who came here from george galloways reference in the debate with hitchens
I did. LOL. And that was after Chomsky on Hitchens morphed into Galloway...Guess if Christopher couldn't beat 'em he joined them. After all, as he noted, what chance did he have against a media that gave equal time to batshit crazy tactics like Heston? But yeah, came to see Christopher in his prime doing good work.
asdwaetd oh man i have just seen the galloway hitchens debate
@@dougchapman9138 to change one's opinion is a response to reason & Hitch supported intervention in iraq, not a war & certainly not for the same reasons of the administration, nor their tactics. Galloway is somewhat more predictable in his bias, & never once outwitted Hitch.
Me too3😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁
@@dyschromotopia He did, in fact, support the Iraq War and was parroting the same arguments as Bush and Blair were making. In fact, even after the invasion took place and no WMDs were found, he claimed that maybe Saddam sent them to another country.
Hitchens was right about the war. Heston repeats history !
@@thebeatcreeperhe was indeed, and people like forgetting that.
Actually- he admitted years later that he was wrong about the w😮ar and stopping Sadam was necessary
Charlton Heston so outclassed
Heston embarrassed himself
Not really. Hitchens was playing Ad Hominem.
@@jamesrobertson432You're ignorance is showing.
Hitchens was a very clever man however he was very dismissive of people who had legitimate and valid opinions that were different to his own , he often made very valid points but he was also rude and childlike, personally I think Heston comes out of this exchange in a far better light regardless of whether you agree with him or not.
@@neilcarpenter2669honestly, Heston came off as a smug warmonger who considered pushback personal attacks
If you've ever sene Hitchens before i debate, you'd know the hairpiece comment was a warning shot
Thank you so much for posting this. I wasn't aware this existed and am listening now for the first time. This is incredible. I have a deep appreciation for Charlton Heston and Christopher Hitchens. Obviously, Hitchens is an absolutely razor-sharp wit and Heston is a very talented actor.
Here Hitchens is being as smart as usual, and probably right. Irony hangs over Hitchens head, a decade and a few later, Hitchens will be arguing in favor of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He rationalized his change of position based on his increasing worry over authoritarian fundamentalism, Wahhabism in this case.
Heston is doing better than a lot of people that have been across a table with Hitchens. Frankly, holding Heston to the same standard as Hitchens is impossible so I think he does okay.
Thanks a bunch. I wonder if Hitchens comments here could be turned into a Hitch v Hitch over the Iraq War. I expect this Hitch might win that one too.
Heston is a mental patient
I agree that if you don't know much about the subject and you come to this as a complete neutral with no background information, and if you judge it purely on rhetoric and style...then Heston comes across as calm and patient in the face of provocation.
But if you actually listen to the arguments he puts forward, and if you take in just how condescending, hypocritical, callous and lazy(never mind geographically illiterate) some of the things he says actually are, then it all falls apart.
You’re right. Hitchens would have still defended his position on protecting civilians though. But he’s right - the whole western world owned the media coverage and rarely was the war questioned at that time.
And why put an ignorant actor on tv to debate an informed and sharp journalist?
Heston won that debate ultimately though, and very decisively - I think Hitchens later wrote a book about the gas attacks he referred to. Also Hitchens was obnoxious and uncouth here, lacking the dignity shown by Heston.
No, Hitchens ripped Moses a new asshole.@@richardcrook2112
"Bahrain, which is an island."
Thank you uploader!
loved the host's final remark and would love to see more of that kind of long gone journalism
been waiting years to see this, it was impossible to find until now. upon checking for it once again, here it finally is.
it had been a long time since i had discovered something "new" from hitchens. for a fleeting second it felt like he was still alive, though this happened before i was even born, which makes that a bit ironic.
Volound The internet is a weird and wonderful thing.
+Volound even a moment of feeling like I've seen something new of Christopher, no matter how old, is worth more to me than hours of talking heads on both sides of an issue.
+Volound "this happened before i was even born"
Damn. I'm getting old.
@@purplegorilla9592 I was 36 at the time and am 63 now - am my opinion the Iraqi War was wrong and waste of American Lives (All wars are a waste of lives really, the only ones that are wasted are those who vote for it since they are safe at home, Read War is a Racket by Lt. Gen. Smedley Butler twice decorated with Medal of Honor
Here is a link to down the book, short and easy to read, Since reading it I have found none of the wars fought to be of any good, starting with WWl, the winners are the munitions manufacturers, the loosers are the wives, daughters, sons and other family members of the solders,
chrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.pdf
@@55Quirll damn right, but keep on voting, i'm told it matters.
Personally I thought both guys looked good here lol. Hitchens may have embarrassed Heston multiple times, but at least Heston took it with a smile and dignity. He laughed at hitchens jokes, didn't get hysterical or offended like someone would today and even if he was unqualified to be there he did just give his opinion. Maybe a bit naive to go head to head with hitch but I enjoyed it
I think it would be more accurate to say he showed no offense. He kept his composure. You never know how an actor truly feels. Heston was one of the greatest.
The Hitch in a league of his own as usual. Heston should have done his homework in more ways than one.
League of his own hypocrite: against the minor war against Iraq but in favour of the one that virtually destroyed it. Or did you conveniently forget that?
Finally! How did you get your fortuitous hands on this? I've been wanting to see this ever since the Hitchens vs. Galloway debate. Thanks!
+Clifton100 me too!
Hitchins won this one but got smashed by Galloway by a total knockout.
Never gets old. Magnificent pricking of pomposity.
Hitchens exudes pomposity, not Heston, imo.
Heston, like Reagan, frequently forgot the line between himself and the character he was playing.
Surprising to see Hitchens' stance on Desert Storm here considering that he backed the considerably more destructive second invasion of Iraq with such enthusiasm.
Yes he went astray for a few years there, but seemed to be coming back around by ‘08-‘09
Yes. He was suitably demolished for that in a debate with the now rabid George Galloway.
He deeply apologized for that mistake. This is what I loved about him. He had intergrity and he always apologized when he was in the wrong. People like Moses here never apologized for anything in their lives. That is the difference between Hitchens and other hypocrites. He believed in truth and justice and not being right or wrong.
These are two very different wars. You can accept one and not the other or vice versa.
"So, you seriously mean to say that we would not be living in a better or safer world if the coalition forces had turned around and sailed or flown home in the spring of 2003?"
"
That’s exactly what I mean to say."
- oh, so it’s Iran now
- Iraq. Do you think I really didn’t know the difference?
- I know you don’t
Oh my lord....this is the best Hitchslap ever.
He did mop the floor with Heston and his hairpiece 😂🤣
@Jazzkeyboardist1 you sound unhinged
@Jazzkeyboardist1 why do you pulled unfortunate suicide of his mother... wtf do you know about her reasons - and you point as chris... you are pathetic prick
What is it with conservatives who lean to the right literally? William Buckley did the same thing.
Hitchens would famously do a 180 on this subject 20 years later. I'd be interested to have heard them talk about this during the Iraq war.
It would probably only be interesting as a study of polemics, since Hitchens had shown himself in later years to be a master of duplicity, in the archaic sense.
He also, famously, administered waterboarding on himself around the time of the Abu Ghraib scandal, declaring it to be absolute torture. With all due respect, Hitchens's flaws are athletically swept under the table because we love to beat up on the likes of Heston.
@@Sibyl3n3 "He also, famously, administered waterboarding on himself around the time of the Abu Ghraib scandal, declaring it to be absolute torture." What's the issue here? Waterboarding IS torture.
@@Sibyl3n3 You can support getting rid of fascist genocidal crime families that own whole countries and agree that waterboarding is torture. They’re not binary.
@@RikerLovesWorf It's not a philosophical or logical qualm. It's the deft manipulation of Hitchen's language and the implications of his later actions. Listen again to the barbs and epithets used. ("Reaganite hacks," etc.) By framing opposing voices this way, you are resorting to a zero-sum conclusion. Not much nuance there, is there?. Further, that Hitchens would volubly skewer someone in support of a war that he would eventually find merit in much later, using these kinds of barbs, is worth serious question. This is to say nothing of the exhibitionism and absurdity of filming yourself being momentarily "waterboarded," which vastly trivializes the suffering of ACTUAL victims of that procedure. Once again: Hitchen has his flaws, and (as usual) no one is listening to them.
Charlton was punching above his weight with Hitch.
Heston NRA spokesman says it all.
Wow...Heston was punching above his weight class here. How did he not expect to get destroyed?
No he didn't. This Moses Mk II thinks he knows everything. If only he had stuck to acting in movies...
8.06 - "I can't understand why Reaganite hacks of this kind are being consulted at a time when thousands of civilians are being killed..."
"keep your hairpiece on..."
You've got to admire the stones on the chap...
@Jazzkeyboardist1 Which secret sex services do you refer to?
Hitchens’s first answer came to fruition, hasn’t it?
Hitchens was right. Iran is dominating the region now
Bucketheadhead he literally copy and pastes that comment on probably every video with Hitchens in it.
@@Zachd500
I saw him on another video too. He called Christopher, Chrissy there too. 🤣
He is really mad.
I think it was more about helping our Saudi buddies more than anything, and they benefitted.
Even though he is not mentioned here by name I have seen enough of his comments to know who you were referring to when you said "He called Christopher, Chrissy".😄@@Amor_fati.Memento_Mori
Has anyone addressed the fact that he was so against the gulf war but then he was so pro Iraq War?
After watching the Louis Theroux interview with heston, the mere sound of the nra spokesman's voice makes me PUKE.
I think Hitchens circa 1991 would have been against the 2nd war in Iraq as well, and rightly so.
But it's interesting to see how differently news broadcasts were conducted years ago. Today, this would have been a 5 minute bit with both sites shouting talking points over each other.
Hitchens was FOR the 2003 Iraq invasion. Go figure.
Seems he considered Iran the larger menace at this time given Saddam was considered a secularist at this point. He extrapolated his love of fellow travelers Jurds to the Shi'ite majority in the second invasion.
I never thought I’d say this, but I actually felt a bit bad for Charlton Heston - Hitchens absolutely destroyed him, no mercy shown.
Not as bad as Michael Moore destroyed him in Bowling for Columbine
@@Kaspen82 🤣
Moses has a new asshole.
Actually Heston stayed cool and collected and made hitch look like a whiny emotional bitxh
In my parents day, you actually knew geography so you knew where these countries were and are located! Looking back on all this, Heston was a government tool brilliantly used in propaganda. Hitchens was actually the voice of reason on these matters back then but we couldn't see it back then. Sad but true!
It played out exactly as Hitchens predicted it would.
"Keep your hairpiece on." LOL.
Everything changes, and everything stays the same.
Great footage. Christopher Hitchens much missed.
Just come across this. It's not everyday that you see and hear the absolute distinction between an erudite, educated, knowledgable and wordly individual and an actor who plays the same character irrespective of the role, a one trick ham actor.
Ah, I have been after this forever!! Thanks much!!
So sad to see what happened to hitchens after 2001 , this was the real hitchens .
I think he was pretty consistent on the point. Read his full arguments about Iraq. He was neither uncritically gun-haw nor a Bushi-ite of any kind.
Rather, Saddam proved to be worse than even the most ambitious Iranian mass murderers.
No, it’s not sad at all. Intelligent people understand that the world changes and there is nuance in events as complex as diplomacy in the Middle East. He was right here, and he was right in 2001.. Religious authoritarianism was not defeated with ISIS and that gave rise to the Taliban. His best work came when he paid less attention to politics and focused on destroying religion
He gave into his hatred of Saddam Hussein
@@arriuscalpurniuspiso
A good hatred to give into on any day. Read what he wrote on visiting the mass graves.
@@willnash7907 He got demonized as a Neo Con, and certainly his idolatry of Thomas Jefferson was appalling. But I understand why he wanted to kill Saddam, who met his end rightfully in a spider hole. George W Bush initiated the Second Civil War in America by lifting the ban on assault rifles. The Iraq War is a touchy subject. At a certain point though, someone had to kill Saddam. But the same could be said of Thomas Jefferson.
I love Heston, great actor, but I think he was dead wrong on this issue.
'You're not addressing these issues and I can prove that by quoting Lincoln 8 times."
"in the future many many American lives" how right he was.
+Kasper999 bin laden cited the stationing of US troops on the arabian peninsula in 1990/91 as one of the key reasons he wanted to wage a war on America, so Hitchens was right about the consequences of the first gulf war.
To hear Hitchens later in 2000's, you'd think he was never aware of his own opinion of the Gulf War. A bit disingenuous.
It's bizarre to hear Hitch argue this position - the polar opposite of what he later argued. A mashup video clip of old Hitch vs. young Hitch arguing both sides of this question would be interesting.
I thought the same thing. I love Hitch, but I think he was ineffective here with Heston. Interesting to see an earlier Hitchens. Definitely still honing his oratory powers.
Bullshit.
If you read his collection of Essays, 'Love Poverty & War' There are about a dozen or so on War, listed before & after September (9/11) this polar opposite Hitch would make a bit more sense
***** Hitchens mopped the floor with Heston.
***** Except that Hitchens years later swapped to being in favour of Heston's position
This will go over many Americans heads, but Heston's answers were basically David Brent floundering in the Quiz episode. The hash of the map question, the filling air-space with useless historical quotes he's memorised from a book when faced with someone who actually knows history. It's glorious.
Gee, you’re so much smarter than us dumb Americans…you overestimate your brain power…
@Kevin-gr5mp you’re equally ignorant gauging the intellect of an entire country’s population…only 340,653,220 people as of right now…
Wow Christopher Hitchens' argument against the Gulf War in 1991, especially the bit about Iran becoming the dominant power in the region, was absolutely wrong in 1991 but would have been absolutely right in 2002-03 when he took the exact opposite position. God Rest his soul, and Charlton Heston's as well. Time moves on, the world changes, and we all pass out of it and leave our wealth and our glory to others whom we know not.
@@smullaney84 Hitchens opposes the war that actually makes sense: the one where Iraq invades another country and occupies, and then supports the one that doesn't make any sense: invading and occupying Iraq when it was just sitting there doing absolutely doing nothing. Explain that to me.
And every single prediction from Hitchens has proven true. Yet, still, we have the people that supported this war running the USA as if they are able to understand actions and consequences.
And Heston is still calling Russians “Soviets” I’m sure.
Yes how dare we defend a UN ally and Arab league partner from a fascist crime family that wholly owned Iraq. These monsters that hated Saddam Hussein’s genocidal ass are in the government. Oh noooooooo
Remember when people could have coherent conversations on news channels?
They still do ffs!
"Keep your hair piece on....." I fucking lost it!!!
CNN actually attempted to do a little serious news analysis once upon a time.
*upon ;-)
@@sidDkid87 thanks. I fixed it.
@@stevenyourke7901 it really is sad / frightening how the media is this country has been bought and sold to the MIC / corporate America
You call bringing in a washed up actor for commentary serious news analysis?
Heston had rights. Like possession of a firearm. Hitchens verbal assaults were more deadly.
👍
Thank you so much for this, been waiting for over five years for this: ever since i heard Galloway, in his debate with Hitchens, mention the Bahrain moment.
9/11 absolutely changed hitchens. Here he is saying the gulf war is pointless and condemning American intervention. He would go on to strongly support the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and would condemn saddam Hussein in the strongest terms.
Love how Heston looks off camera to clearly receive information about Iraq’s borders from a 3rd party because he had no idea himself! 😄
thanx so much for uploading this :)
This is what I call TH-cam gold!!
I remember when CNN was a news network, MTV was all music, and the food channel was peaking out of ur livingroom into your kitchen
15:00 New World Order? Why not interview Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash about this, instead of Charlton Heston?
Heston: Footage to come out of Iran . . .
Hitch: Iraq
Heston: Iraq I mean. Do you think I didn't know the difference?
Hitch: I know you didn't. 12:41 Jesus Hitch is ruthlessly getting good play from the geography lesson
I wonder what Heston had to say after learning that no weapons of mass destruction were found.
Of course we know that Iraq had WMD, they were supplied to them by the West.
How was Hitch swayed to the Bush side during the actual ousting of Sadam?
Two very important developments:
1) His experience in visiting Iraq and talking to people who suffered under Saddam Hussein's regime. He was already breaking with the antiwar left over the Kosovo intervention, which he thought was justified ("take the side of the victim.")
2) 9/11 for him highlighted the danger of Islamist extremists, whom Iraq was enabling. To him Islamism was a right-wing fascism grounded in a different worldview.
@@fre2725 Indeed, he was never entrenched in some anti-war position. In his younger days he cogently argued the case for WWII without knocking up a sweat. He was anti-fascist and anti-authoritarian.
What would the Hitchens of 1991 have said to the Hitchens of 2003?
Hitchens soon changed his tune by gulf war two!
No, you have it wrong. The second war came about after 911.
The irony of Hitchens eating his own logic 15 years later can only be appreciated by watching him speak out of both sides of his mouth in 2022.
As much as I admire Christopher Hitchens, RIP, I can't but mention the fact that even men of his caliber occasionally change their mind on major issues. This happened a few years on, when Mr Hitchens, upon finding out how tyrannical Saddam Hussein's regime was, convincingly and even passionately argued in favour of war against Iraq.
And he was wrong to change his mind
He was never in favour of a war against Iraq. He was in favour of a war against Saddam (for a liberated Iraq)
He wanted to kill Saddam, not the Iraqi people
Hitchens was brilliant here, simply brilliant. The debate with Galloway should be seen in comparison to this. 9/11 changed Hitchens' philosophy a great deal as his writings amply demonstrate.
Galloway crushed Hitchens like a noxious insect. Of course, given that everything that came out of Hitchens' mouth was an infantile lie, that wasn't very difficult to do.
man, crazy how far Hitchens fell
I felt a little sorry for Heston (never thought I’d say that) but Heston was a fool for agreeing to debate this with someone like Hitchens. Totally out of his depth and clueless.
Interesting: Moses defeated, pre-neocon war on Iraq, pre-neocon-abetting Hitchens.
All wars are banksters wars. What’s sad is that Hitch would never even admit that himself. He just kept the false narrative going. He was no different than any of the people he debated.
Fair Point
If you give a man a gun , he can rob a bank , if you give a man a bank , he can rob the world
WOW!!!! Talk about Hitchslap.
Hitchens' approach is a bit naive. He commented condescendingly on Gen. Schwarzkopf's cutting off electricity to the capitol as if he thought it was a paintball match and not a war. Even Churchill said that the better the general, the more he relies on maneuvers and the less on slaughter. Cutting off electricity and water is hardly dropping the A-bomb.
what changed Hitchens ?? He used to be an anti war !!
Depends on necessity. He later woke up to the scourge of Islam, and it's cult-like danger for the planet. Their "jihad" and their deep hatred of "infidels" will be a problem for the next 100 years, until possibly someday they can have their own Enlightenment from within. Islam wants the entire planet. Sharia everywhere. Period. This is not some fringe attitude either. It is the polled viewpoint of well over 80% of muslims worldwide. Even 200,000 muslim women go through having their clitoris removed - in secular/free WESTERN countries. It's in the tens of millions, per year, worldwide. As we all babble and worry about being "racist" ... Islam is seeding the west with immigrants and refugees... slowly but surely... never assimilating... setting up little Sharia middle-easts everywhere. It's a long game, and they are only concerned about their results in 50-100 years. Not the present. We're blindly letting it happen.
SIR * 911
@@abandoned-mines-novascotia Indeed, you can trace his resistance to Islam back to its attack on his friend Salman Rushdie and freedom of speech more generally. He was royally pissed off about that and even more pissed off by the apologists for Islam in the Western nations who lined up to slam Rushdie or Danish cartoonists or anyone who offended Islamic sensibilities by pointing out that their religion had a theocratic wing which was festooned with violent lunatics.
How did Hitchens square his opposition to this war, with his support for the following Iraq war, post 9/11?
I'm delighted to say that Mr. Hitchens and I seem to agree... because his informed analysis and debating prowess are kicking shite out of my opinionated conservative drivel.
All Heston had was memorised lines.... you could tell he'd looked up things like a quote from Gladstone and one from von Clausewitz, but didn't know shit about either.... all just being an actor and spewing out other people's words and his own bigotry. That was a debating bloodbath, made even more fun by that trademark anger and glee of Hitchens. You could tell he had utter contempt for Heston and wanted to tear him apart with his words, delivered with sheer disdain. Beautiful.
And Iran, in point of fact, funds both Hamas and Hizbollah in 2023.