The Contrarian
Some share Hitch’s contempt towards the many of us who did not cave in to the Bush agenda and who remain vehemently opposed to dictators (of whatever creed) AND the new imperialism – the invasion of Iraq would have condemned as a war crime at Nuremberg. I’m afraid the anti- imperialist Hitch that I had any respect for died around 9/11/2001. He did coin a term so useful to the narrative: though the “Islamofascism” tag is conceptually week. It can only really be used if you understand neither Fascism or Islamism- debasing contemporary and historically “ant-fascism” (and the lives lost fighting it) and which of course then fails to understand the movements in question. By “contrarian” I guess we mean one who starts out against tyranny but who ends up, maybe bit by bit, making peace with that which they once rallied against. Whilst no doubt thinking he was consistently upholding the real principles of the left, Hitch attacked former allies to justify the pursuit of greater power by the already powerful West. Whilst most recoil in horror at the bloodshed, Hitch ended up a bellicose and blundering mouthpiece for an establishment that doesn’t even seem to have been especially grateful…
US forces leave Iraq an massively impoverished sectarian mess (which now even has statutes against women’s rights and equality), a corrupt government of the 1%, widespread suffering and a very big pile of bodies. If we don’t mention oil. It shows how bombing & shooting populations until they are “free” hasn’t worked – though we should note that such “war aims” were tagged on after the justification of WMD was shown to be a lie. I know it is a view unfashionable in some quarters but I think real liberation comes from the people themselves, as Hitch once understood. The invasion was opposed by many millions and almost everyone else in the rest of the world thinks it disastrous.
Let’s hope no parents in USA or GB will be getting their children home in body bags for Christmas this year.
