Hitchens thinks of himself as the Orwell of the 21st century, pointing out the unpleasant truths that the left is not prepared to accept. Orwell did it with the Soviets; now Hitchens is doing it, he thinks, with Islam. And, certainly, he's right that a large part of the left is under the delusion that Islam somehow advocates peace and equality.
I originally thought Hitchens was supportive of war just because he wanted to see the fall of a dictator. It was when I read his nauseating defence of Tony Blair that I realised he was just another fat brown-nosing blob.
Speaking of empire. Hitchens's brother, Peter, is a pretty prominent right-wing commentator over here. On TV the other day he said he considered himself an imperialist and would support war on Iraq if it had clear imperialist objectives, but as it does not, he's against it. It's a topsy-turvy world.
