A Man Like Christopher Hitchens Doesn’t Come Around Too Often

Christopher Hitchens is an exceptional and highly controversial writer. He has authorized many books including god is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, Why Orwell Matters, and The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice. He contributes regularly to Vanity Fair and Slate. After being recently diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus Charlie Rose arranged an interview with him to look back on his life. Hitchens led a bohemian existence as a writer. It is only relatively recently that he has not been living pay-check to pay-check. Friendship, writing, alcohol, cigarettes, sex and books defined his lifestyle. Despite this outward appearance as an indulgent intellectual he is a brave and humble man. Rose pointed out his courage, loyalty and consistency displayed over the years. Hitchens has put himself in numerous potentially career-ending and life-ending situations. Rose asked if he could summate his life as a fight for freedom, to which Hitchens modestly dismissed as a grandiose claim. But Rose is right. His life really has been a fight for freedom.

Htichens’ father was a navy commander. Like George Orwell – whom he wrote a book about – Hitchens did not like the empire or the armed service, but was brought up under its ethics. As a boy he emulated the flinty virtues of duty and courage, and continues to today. He said he felt honored to have been a friend of Salman Rushdie. The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa calling on all Muslims to kill Rusdie because of his blasphemous book The Satanic Verses.  Hitchens passionately fought for his friend and continues to fight for free expression. Since then has appeared on numerous news and talk shows defending the Danish cartoonist. Hitchens admires Tony Blair despite his unpopularity when he takes risks for points of principle. Blair saved Sierra-Lionne and smashed the RUF, which effectually prevented another Rwanda. He respects Blair when he said ‘we cannot coexist with totalitarian ideologies’. As a result of this openness Blair was pursued with defamation and slander.

Hitchens is a man of principle. Critics have attacked Hitchens for his apparently sudden shift in politics to supporting the Iraq war. He explained that his support of the Iran-Iraq invasion should have been expected; “the one thing I have been is consistently anti-totalitarian”. He was maintaining his loyalty to the Iraqi-Kurdish opposition to Hussein when they were being massacred. In fact, in many of his public appearances the Kurdish flag can be seen on his lapel.  The theocratic dictatorship in the Middle East is an amalgam of everything Hitchens opposes: fascism, genocide, totalitarianism and theocracy. According to Hitchens, the one-party state is a fantasy. The utopian idea that humans can be hammered into another compulsory state cannot be brought about. Only misery is caused by the attempt.

Hitchens still defends the Iran-Iraq invasion. Saddam Hussein was measurable distance from nuclear weaponry and “if a fight was picked I’d rather it be on our terms than theirs”. Hussein’s goal was to complete the national outline of Iraq and Kuwait was the missing province. To say the very least he was not pleased when Saddam Hussein was in power. The war allowed an attempt at a federal constitution. Disputes between Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish would have been solved at the electoral level. The hope was for Iraq to control its own resources, have free press, and create Kurdish autonomy.

Hitchens is an extraordinary man in many ways; he once said his daily intake of alcohol was enough to kill or stun the average mule. Joking aside, the virtues shown by Christopher Hitchens are truly worth emulating. His courage, enthusiasm and dedication are inspiring. Vanity Fair still sees articles written by him despite all his time spent in recovery and chemotherapy.  “I’m leaving the party earlier than I’d like”. This is the side of ‘The Hitch’ we love. We know that he wants to be out there right now.

Here is the interview: http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11168