Christopher Hitchens, Clueless in a Class by Himself:Larry Johnson

[cal04]

In his latest diatribe, Christopher Hitchens declares Joe Wilson clueless and then proceeds to demonstrate that he is the one floundering in fantasy land and devoid of clear reason. Maybe this is a consequence of sleep deprivation (lack of sleep can have deleterious effects on one's mental acuity). I cannot explain his addled ways, but look at what Hitchens writes and you will agree, the man is clueless.

He starts with this zinger:
Nobody appears to dispute what I wrote in last week's Slate to the effect that in February 1999, Saddam Hussein dispatched his former envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, and former delegate to non-proliferation conferences at the United Nations, to Niger.

Nobody, huh? Well Chris, what about this sentence in the next paragraph:
On Keith Olbermann's show on April 10, Wilson was asked about my article and about Zahawie. He replied that Zahawie "is a man that I know from my time as acting ambassador in Baghdad during the first Gulf War. ... He was ambassador to the Vatican, and he made a trip in 1999 to several West and Central African countries for the express purpose of inviting chiefs of state to violate the ban on travel to Iraq."

Maybe Hitchens needs an editor. Somebody did dispute his rantings. That someone is Joe Wilson.
Is Hitchens really this out of touch with reality or is he just desperate for attention? I suspect the latter. Hitchens seizes on Zahawie's background with the IAEA as "proof" that he had to be doing something with uranium in Niger. The main problem he confronts, however, is that there is no corroborating evidence to back up his sincere belief that this is what Zahawie was really doing in Niger.

more
http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/04/christopher_hit.html

[underpants]

1. *hic* *burp*

My Hitchens impersonation

[marmar]

2. Exactly...

Hitchens isn't too reliable after lunch. :beer:

[EST]

3. Ya' missed the cockney bit of his accent.

Wouldn't it be sorta "heec bupp?":beer: :popcorn:

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. 'Cockney'? Please, he's as cockney as Dick Van Dyke

That's like me saying Ted Kennedy has a Southern drawl. He's from Portsmouth, his father was a naval officer, and he went to a private school. If you can say anything about his accent, it's "southern England public school" ('public school' being the paradoxical British name for a private school - in contrast to a private tutor).

[thebigidea]

5. Maauuuurrrryyy Paaauppppinnnnnsssss?

Sid James he ain't!