Hitchins, Christopher

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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens</a>

Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom" title="United Kingdom" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Anglo</a>-<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">American</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-6" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[6]</a> author, literary critic and journalist.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-ukwhoswho1-7" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[7]</a>

He contributed to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Statesman" title="New Statesman" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">New Statesman</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nation" title="The Nation" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The Nation</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atlantic" title="The Atlantic" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The Atlantic</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Review_of_Books" title="London Review of Books" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">London Review of Books</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_Literary_Supplement" title="The Times Literary Supplement" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The Times Literary Supplement</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_Fair_magazine" title="Vanity Fair magazine" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Vanity Fair</a>. Hitchens was the author, co-author, editor and co-editor of over thirty books, including five collections of essays, on a range of subjects, including politics, literature and religion. A staple of talk shows and lecture circuits, his confrontational style of debate made him both a lauded and controversial figure. Known for his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrarian" title="Contrarian" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">contrarian</a> stance on a number of issues, Hitchens excoriated such public figures as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa" title="Mother Teresa" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Mother Teresa</a>; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton" title="Bill Clinton" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Bill Clinton</a>; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Kissinger" title="Henry Kissinger" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Henry Kissinger</a>; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky" title="Noam Chomsky" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Noam Chomsky</a>; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana,_Princess_of_Wales" title="Diana, Princess of Wales" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Diana, Princess of Wales</a>; and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI" title="Pope Benedict XVI" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Pope Benedict XVI</a>. He was the elder brother of author <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hitchens" title="Peter Hitchens" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Peter Hitchens</a>.

Long describing himself as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_socialism" title="Democratic socialism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">socialist</a> and a Marxist, Hitchens began his break from the established political left after what he called the "tepid reaction" of the Western left to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_controversy" title="The Satanic Verses controversy" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">the controversy</a> over <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses" title="The Satanic Verses" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The Satanic Verses</a>, followed by the left's embrace of Bill Clinton, and the "anti-war" movement's opposition to intervention in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Even though Hitchens did not leave his position writing for The Nation until post-9/11, stating that he felt the magazine had arrived at a position "that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ashcroft" title="John Ashcroft" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">John Ashcroft</a> is a greater menace than <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden" title="Osama bin Laden" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Osama bin Laden</a>."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-:78-8" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[8]</a> The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks" title="September 11 attacks" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">September 11 attacks</a> "exhilarated" him, bringing into focus "a battle between everything I love and everything I hate," and strengthening his embrace of an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interventionism_(politics)" title="Interventionism (politics)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">interventionist</a> foreign policy which challenged "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamofascism" title="Islamofascism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">fascism with an Islamic face</a>".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-9" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[9]</a> His numerous editorials in support of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War" title="Iraq War" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Iraq War</a>caused some to label him a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism" title="Neoconservatism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">neoconservative</a>, although Hitchens insisted he was not "a conservative of any kind", and his friend <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_McEwan" title="Ian McEwan" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Ian McEwan</a> described him as representing the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism" title="Totalitarianism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">anti-totalitarian</a> left.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-NewStatesman2010-10" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[10]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-11" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[11]</a> Indeed, in a 2010 BBC interview, he stated that he was "still a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism" title="Marxism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Marxist</a>".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-12" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[12]</a>

A noted critic of religion and an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antitheist" title="Antitheist" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">antitheist</a>, he said that a person "could be an atheist and wish that belief in god were correct", but that "an antitheist, a term I'm trying to get into circulation, is someone who is relieved that there's no evidence for such an assertion".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-13" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[13]</a> According to Hitchens, the concept of a god or a supreme being is a<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism" title="Totalitarianism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">totalitarian</a> belief that destroys individual freedom, and that free expression and scientific discovery should replace religion as a means of teaching ethics and defining human civilisation. His anti-religion <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polemic" title="Polemic" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">polemic</a>, New York Times Bestseller, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Is_Not_Great" title="God Is Not Great" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">God Is Not Great</a>: How Religion Poisons Everything, sold over 500,000 copies.

Hitchens died on 15 December 2011 from complications arising from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esophageal_cancer" title="Esophageal cancer" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">esophageal cancer</a>, a disease that he acknowledged was more than likely due to his lifelong predilection for heavy smoking and drinking.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-14" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[14]</a>

<h2 style=" color: black; font-weight: bold; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; font-size: 13.3000001907349px; display: inline; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Contents</h2>

[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#" id="togglelink" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">hide</a>] </div>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Life_and_career" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">1 Life and career</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Early_life_and_education" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">1.1 Early life and education</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Journalistic_career_.281970.E2.80.9381.29" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">1.2 Journalistic career (1970–81)</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#American_career_.281981.E2.80.932011.29" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">1.3 American career (1981–2011)</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Literature_reviews" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">1.4 Literature reviews</a></li>

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<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Political_views" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">2 Political views</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Ideology" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">2.1 Ideology</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Iraq_War_and_the_war_on_terror" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">2.2 Iraq War and the war on terror</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Criticism_of_George_W._Bush" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">2.3 Criticism of George W. Bush</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Presidential_endorsements" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">2.4 Presidential endorsements</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Israel.E2.80.93Palestine" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">2.5 Israel–Palestine</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-12" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Domestic_policy" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">2.6 Domestic policy</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-13" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Other" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">2.7 Other</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-14" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Criticism_of_Mormonism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">2.8 Criticism of Mormonism</a></li>

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<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-15" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Critiques_of_specific_individuals" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">3 Critiques of specific individuals</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-16" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Views_on_religion" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">4 Views on religion</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-17" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Personal_life" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">5 Personal life</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-18" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Marriages_and_children" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">5.1 Marriages and children</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-19" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Parents" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">5.2 Parents</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-20" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Relationship_with_his_younger_brother" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">5.3 Relationship with his younger brother</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-21" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Smoking_and_drinking" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">5.4 Smoking and drinking</a></li>

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<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-22" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Final_illness_and_death" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">6 Final illness and death</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-23" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Reactions_to_Hitchens.27s_death" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">7 Reactions to Hitchens's death</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-24" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Film_and_television_appearances" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">8 Film and television appearances</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-25" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Books" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">9 Books</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-26" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#References" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">10 References</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-27" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#External_links" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">11 External links</a></li>

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<h2 style=" color: black; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 1.5em; font-family: 'Linux Libertine', Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.3; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Life and career<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate; font-family: sans-serif;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christopher_Hitchens&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Life and career" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>

<h3 style=" color: black; font-weight: bold; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 1.17em; line-height: 1.6; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Early life and education<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate; font-family: sans-serif;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christopher_Hitchens&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Early life and education" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>

<p style=" margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Hitchens was born in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth" title="Portsmouth" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Portsmouth</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampshire" title="Hampshire" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Hampshire</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-15" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[15]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-16" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[16]</a> His parents, Eric Ernest Hitchens (1909–87) and Yvonne Jean Hitchens (née Hickman; 1921–73), met in Scotland when both were serving in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy" title="Royal Navy" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Royal Navy</a>during World War II.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-17" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[17]</a> His mother was Jewish, and kept that fact a secret.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-The_Boy_Can.27t_Help_It-18" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[18]</a> It was not until late 1987 that Hitchens learned of his Jewish ancestry (though he became a lifelong atheist).<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-The_Boy_Can.27t_Help_It-18" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[18]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-tabletmag.com-19" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[19]</a> He said, "My initial reaction, apart from pleasure and interest, was the faint but definite feeling that I had somehow known all along."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-tabletmag.com-19" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[19]</a> His mother was a "Wren" (a member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Royal_Naval_Service" title="Women's Royal Naval Service" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Women's Royal Naval Service</a>),<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-Hitch-22_Independent-20" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[20]</a> and his father an officer aboard the cruiser <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Jamaica_(44)" title="HMS Jamaica (44)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">HMS Jamaica</a>, which helped sink Nazi Germany's battleship <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_battleship_Scharnhorst" title="German battleship Scharnhorst" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Scharnhorst</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_North_Cape" title="Battle of the North Cape" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Battle of the North Cape</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-Christopher_Hitchens_In_Depth-3" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[3]</a> His father's naval career required the family to move a number of times from base to base throughout Britain and its dependencies, including in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta" title="Malta" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Malta</a>, where Christopher's brother <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hitchens" title="Peter Hitchens" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Peter</a> was born in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliema" title="Sliema" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Sliema</a> in 1951.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-21" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[21]</a>

Hitchens's mother, arguing "if there is going to be an upper class in this country, then Christopher is going to be in it",<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-22" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[22]</a> sent him to Mount House School in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tavistock,Devon" title="Tavistock, Devon" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Tavistock</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devon" title="Devon" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Devon</a> at the age of eight, followed by the independent <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Leys_School" title="The Leys School" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Leys School</a> in Cambridge, and finally <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balliol_College,Oxford" title="Balliol College, Oxford" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Balliol College, Oxford</a>, where he was tutored by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Lukes" title="Steven Lukes" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Steven Lukes</a> and read <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy,Politics_and_Economics" title="Philosophy, Politics and Economics" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Philosophy, Politics and Economics</a>. Hitchens was "bowled over" in his adolescence by<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Llewellyn" title="Richard Llewellyn" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Richard Llewellyn</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Green_Was_My_Valley" title="How Green Was My Valley" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">How Green Was My Valley</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Koestler" title="Arthur Koestler" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Arthur Koestler</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkness_at_Noon" title="Darkness at Noon" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Darkness at Noon</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoyevsky" title="Fyodor Dostoyevsky" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Fyodor Dostoyevsky</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_and_Punishment" title="Crime and Punishment" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Crime and Punishment</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.H._Tawney" title="R. H. Tawney" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">R. H. Tawney</a>'s critique on Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, and the works of George Orwell.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-Hitch-22_Independent-20" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[20]</a> In 1968, he took part in the TV quiz show <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_Challenge" title="University Challenge" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">University Challenge</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-23" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[23]</a>

In the 1960s, Hitchens joined the political left, drawn by his anger over the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War" title="Vietnam War" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Vietnam War</a>, nuclear weapons, racism, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy" title="Oligarchy" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">oligarchy</a>, including that of "the unaccountable corporation". He expressed affinity with the politically charged countercultural and protest movements <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterculture_of_the_1960s" title="Counterculture of the 1960s" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">of the 1960s and 1970s</a>. He deplored the recreational drug use of the time, which he described as hedonistic.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-hoover.org-24" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[24]</a>

Hitchens was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisexuality" title="Bisexuality" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">bisexual</a> during his younger days – until he claimed his looks "declined to the point where only women would go to bed with me." <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-theguardian.com-25" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[25]</a> While at Oxford he claimed to have had sexual relations with two male students who would later become <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party_(UK)" title="Conservative Party (UK)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Tory</a> ministers during the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premiership_of_Margaret_Thatcher" title="Premiership of Margaret Thatcher" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Premiership of Margaret Thatcher</a>, although he wouldn't reveal their names publicly.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-dailymail.co.uk-26" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[26]</a>

He joined the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Party_(UK)" title="Labour Party (UK)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Labour Party</a> in 1965, but along with the majority of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Students" title="Labour Students" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Labour students' organisation</a> was expelled in 1967, because of what Hitchens called "Prime Minister <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Wilson" title="Harold Wilson" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Harold Wilson</a>'s contemptible support for the war in Vietnam".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-27" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[27]</a> Under the influence of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sedgwick" title="Peter Sedgwick" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Peter Sedgwick</a>, who translated the writings of Russian revolutionary and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Soviet</a> dissident <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Serge" title="Victor Serge" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Victor Serge</a>, Hitchens forged an ideological interest in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trotskyism" title="Trotskyism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Trotskyist</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Stalinist_left" title="Anti-Stalinist left" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">anti-Stalinist</a> socialism.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-Hitch-22_Independent-20" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[20]</a> Shortly after he joined "a small but growing post-Trotskyist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxemburgism" title="Luxemburgism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Luxemburgist</a> sect".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-PBSinterview-28" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[28]</a>

<h3 style=" color: black; font-weight: bold; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 1.17em; line-height: 1.6; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Journalistic career (1970–81)<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate; font-family: sans-serif;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christopher_Hitchens&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Journalistic career (1970–81)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>

Hitchens left Oxford with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_undergraduate_degree_classification" title="British undergraduate degree classification" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">third class</a> degree.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-Prospect_profile-30" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[30]</a> In 1971 he went to work at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_Higher_Education" title="Times Higher Education" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Times Higher Education Supplement</a> where he served as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_science" title="Social science" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">social science</a> correspondent.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-ukwhoswho1-7" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[7]</a> Hitchens admitted that he hated the position, and was later fired: he recalled, "I sometimes think if I'd been any good at that job, I might still be doing it."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-31" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[31]</a> Next he was a researcher for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITV_(TV_network)" title="ITV (TV network)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">ITV</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekend_World" title="Weekend World" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Weekend World</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-autogenerated1-32" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[32]</a> In 1973 he went to work for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Statesman" title="New Statesman" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">New Statesman</a>, where he became friends with the authors <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Amis" title="Martin Amis" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Martin Amis</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_McEwan" title="Ian McEwan" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Ian McEwan</a>, among others.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-autogenerated1-32" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[32]</a> At the New Statesman he acquired a reputation as a fierce left-winger, aggressively attacking targets such as<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Kissinger" title="Henry Kissinger" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Henry Kissinger</a>, the Vietnam War, and the Roman Catholic Church.

In November 1973, Hitchens's mother committed suicide in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens" title="Athens" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Athens</a> in a suicide pact with her lover, a former clergyman named Timothy Bryan.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-Hitch-22_Independent-20" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[20]</a> They overdosed on sleeping pills in adjoining hotel rooms, and Bryan slashed his wrists in the bathtub. Hitchens flew alone to Athens to recover his mother's body. Both her children were then independent adults. While in Greece, Hitchens reported on the constitutional crisis of the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_military_junta_of_1967%E2%80%9374" title="Greek military junta of 1967–74" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">military junta</a>. It became his first leading article for the New Statesman.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-33" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[33]</a>

In 1977, unhappy at the New Statesman, Hitchens defected to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Express" title="Daily Express" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Daily Express</a> where he became a foreign correspondent.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-autogenerated1-32" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[32]</a> He returned to the New Statesman in 1979 where he became foreign editor.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-autogenerated1-32" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[32]</a>

<h3 style=" color: black; font-weight: bold; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 1.17em; line-height: 1.6; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">American career (1981–2011)<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate; font-family: sans-serif;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christopher_Hitchens&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: American career (1981–2011)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>

<p style=" margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Hitchens went to the United States in 1981, as part of an editor exchange program between The New Statesman and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nation" title="The Nation" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The Nation</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-34" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[34]</a> After joining The Nation, he penned vociferous critiques of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Ronald Reagan</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H.W.Bush" title="George H. W. Bush" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">George H. W. Bush</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_foreign_policy" title="American foreign policy" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">American foreign policy</a> in South and Central America.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-35" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[35]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-newyorkmetro1999-36" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[36]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-Reason2001-37" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[37]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-38" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[38]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-GuyRaz-39" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[39]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-40" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[40]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-41" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[41]</a> He became a contributing editor of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_Fair_(magazine)" title="Vanity Fair (magazine)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Vanity Fair</a> in 1992,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-42" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[42]</a> writing ten columns a year. He left The Nation in 2002 after profoundly disagreeing with other contributors over the Iraq War. There is speculation that Hitchens was the inspiration for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wolfe" title="Tom Wolfe" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Tom Wolfe</a>'s character Peter Fallow in the 1987 novel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bonfire_of_the_Vanities" title="The Bonfire of the Vanities" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The Bonfire of the Vanities</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-Reason2001-37" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[37]</a>but others—including Hitchens (or he indicated as such while alive)—believe it to be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spy_Magazine" title="Spy Magazine" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Spy Magazine</a> 's "Ironman Nightlife Decathlete" <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Haden-Guest" title="Anthony Haden-Guest" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Anthony Haden-Guest</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-43" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[43]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-44" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[44]</a> In 1987, his father died from cancer of the esophagus; the same disease that would later claim his own life.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-Topic_of_Cancer-45" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[45]</a> In April 2007, Hitchens became a U.S. citizen. He became a media fellow at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Institution" title="Hoover Institution" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Hoover Institution</a> in September 2008.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-46" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[46]</a>

Hitchens spent part of his early career in journalism as a foreign correspondent in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus" title="Cyprus" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Cyprus</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-47" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[47]</a> Through his work there he met his first wife Eleni Meleagrou, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Cypriots" title="Greek Cypriots" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Greek Cypriot</a>, with whom he had two children, Alexander and Sophia. His son, Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, born in 1984, has worked as a policy researcher in London. Hitchens continued writing essay-style correspondence pieces from a variety of locales, including<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chad" title="Chad" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Chad</a>, Uganda<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-48" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[48]</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darfur" title="Darfur" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Darfur</a> region of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudan" title="Sudan" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Sudan</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-49" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[49]</a> His work took him to over 60 countries.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-50" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[50]</a> In 1991 he received a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lannan_Literary_Awards#Lannan_Literary_Award_for_Nonfiction" title="Lannan Literary Awards" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-51" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[51]</a>

Hitchens met Carol Blue for the first time at the Los Angeles airport in 1989, and would marry her in 1991. Hitchens called it love at first sight.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-52" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[52]</a> In 1999, as harsh critics of Clinton, Hitchens and Carol Blue submitted an affidavit to the trial managers of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Republican Party</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Bill_Clinton" title="Impeachment of Bill Clinton" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">impeachment of Bill Clinton</a>. Therein they swore that their then-friend, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Blumenthal" title="Sidney Blumenthal" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Sidney Blumenthal</a>, had described <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Lewinsky" title="Monica Lewinsky" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Monica Lewinsky</a> as a stalker. This allegation contradicted Blumenthal's own sworn deposition in the trial,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-salon1999-53" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[53]</a> and it resulted in a hostile exchange of opinion in the public sphere between Hitchens and Blumenthal. Following the publication of Blumenthal's The Clinton Wars, Hitchens wrote several pieces in which he accused Blumenthal of manipulating the facts.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-salon1999-53" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[53]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-54" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[54]</a> The incident ended their friendship and sparked a "personal crisis" for Hitchens who was stridently criticised by friends for a cynical and ultimately politically futile act.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-newyorkmetro1999-36" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[36]</a>

Before Hitchens's political shift, the American author and polemicist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gore_Vidal" title="Gore Vidal" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Gore Vidal</a> was apt to speak of Hitchens as his "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dauphin_of_France" title="Dauphin of France" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Dauphin</a>" or "heir".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-55" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[55]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-56" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[56]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-57" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[57]</a> In 2010, Hitchens attacked Vidal in a Vanity Fair piece headlined "Vidal Loco", calling him a "crackpot" for his adoption of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_conspiracy_theories" title="9/11 conspiracy theories" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">9/11 conspiracy theories</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-58" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[58]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-59" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[59]</a> Also, on the back of his book Hitch-22, among the praise from notable figures, Vidal's endorsement of Hitchens as his successor is crossed out in red and an annotated "NO, C.H." His strong advocacy of the war in Iraq had gained Hitchens a wider readership, and in September 2005 he was named one of the "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_2005_Global_Intellectuals_Poll" title="The 2005 Global Intellectuals Poll" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Top 100 Public Intellectuals</a>" by<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Policy" title="Foreign Policy" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Foreign Policy</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospect_(magazine)" title="Prospect (magazine)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Prospect</a> magazines.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-60" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[60]</a> An online poll ranked the 100 intellectuals, but the magazines noted that the rankings of Hitchens (5), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky" title="Noam Chomsky" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Noam Chomsky</a> (1), and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdolkarim_Soroush" title="Abdolkarim Soroush" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Abdolkarim Soroush</a> (15) were partly due to supporters publicising the vote.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-61" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[61]</a>

In 2007 Hitchens's work for Vanity Fair won him the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Magazine_Award" title="National Magazine Award" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">National Magazine Award</a> in the category "Columns and Commentary".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-62" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[62]</a> He was a finalist once more in the same category in 2008 for some of his columns in<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate_(magazine)" title="Slate (magazine)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Slate</a> but lost out to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Taibbi" title="Matt Taibbi" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Matt Taibbi</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Stone" title="Rolling Stone" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Rolling Stone</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-63" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[63]</a> He won the National Magazine Award for Columns about Cancer in 2011.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-64" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[64]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-65" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[65]</a> Hitchens also served on the Advisory Board of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_Coalition_for_America" title="Secular Coalition for America" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Secular Coalition for America</a> and offered advice to Coalition on the acceptance and inclusion of nontheism in American life.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-66" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[66]</a> In December 2011, prior to his death, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid" title="Asteroid" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Asteroid</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/57901_Hitchens" title="57901 Hitchens" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">57901 Hitchens</a> was named after him.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-67" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[67]</a>

<h3 style=" color: black; font-weight: bold; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 1.17em; line-height: 1.6; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Literature reviews<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate; font-family: sans-serif;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christopher_Hitchens&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Literature reviews" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>

During a three-hour <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Depth" title="In Depth" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">In Depth</a> interview on Book TV,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-Christopher_Hitchens_In_Depth-3" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[3]</a> he named authors who have had influence on his views, including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley" title="Aldous Huxley" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Aldous Huxley</a>, George Orwell, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Waugh" title="Evelyn Waugh" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Evelyn Waugh</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.G.Wodehouse" title="P. G. Wodehouse" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">P. G. Wodehouse</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conor_Cruise_O%27Brien" title="Conor Cruise O'Brien" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Conor Cruise O'Brien</a>.

<h2 style=" color: black; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 1.5em; font-family: 'Linux Libertine', Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.3; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Political views<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate; font-family: sans-serif;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christopher_Hitchens&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Political views" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>

<div class="hatnote relarticle mainarticle" style=" font-style: italic; padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Main article: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_views_of_Christopher_Hitchens" title="Political views of Christopher Hitchens" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Political views of Christopher Hitchens</a></div>

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<td>My own opinion is enough for me, and I claim the right to have it defended against any consensus, any majority, anywhere, anyplace, anytime. And anyone who disagrees with this can pick a number, get in line and kiss my arse.</td>

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<td style=" text-align: left;">– Christopher Hitchens<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-69" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[69]</a></td>

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In 2010, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Dalrymple" title="Theodore Dalrymple" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Theodore Dalrymple</a> wrote, "Christopher made an early commitment to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trotskyism" title="Trotskyism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Trotskyism</a>, but it is difficult to take him very seriously as a revolutionary because he always has been too much of a hedonist. Indeed, he appears to me to have had roughly the same relationship to proletarians as Marie Antoinette had to sheep: They have walk-on parts in his personal drama. There is not much evidence of his having thought deeply, or even at all, about the fate, under a social system he vociferously advocated, of the pleasures he so clearly values, the liking for which I don't in the least blame him; nor is there evidence of any real reflection on what the world would have been like had his demands been met. Not permanent revolution but permanent adolescence has been his goal, and I think he has achieved it."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-72" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[72]</a>

<h3 style=" color: black; font-weight: bold; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 1.17em; line-height: 1.6; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Ideology<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate; font-family: sans-serif;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christopher_Hitchens&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Ideology" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>

In 2006, in a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania debating the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism" title="Judaism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Jewish Tradition</a> with Martin Amis, Hitchens commented on his political philosophy by stating, "I am no longer a socialist, but I still am a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxist" title="Marxist" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Marxist</a>".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-74" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[74]</a> In a June 2010 interview with The New York Times, he stated that "I still think like a Marxist in many ways. I think the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_materialism" title="Historical materialism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">materialist conception of history</a> is valid. I consider myself a very conservative Marxist".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-75" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[75]</a> In 2009, in an article for The Atlantic entitled "The Revenge of Karl Marx", Hitchens frames the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late-2000s_recession" title="Late-2000s recession" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">late-2000s recession</a> in terms of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxist_economics" title="Marxist economics" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Marx's economic analysis</a> and notes how much Marx admired the capitalist system that he called for the end of, but says that Marx ultimately failed to grasp how revolutionary capitalist innovation was.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-76" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[76]</a> Hitchens was an admirer of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara" title="Che Guevara" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Che Guevara</a>, yet in an essay written in 1997, he distanced himself from Che, and referred to the mythos surrounding him as a "cult".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-77" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[77]</a> In 2004 he resumed his positive view of Che, commenting that "[Che's] death meant a lot to me and countless like me at the time. He was a role model, albeit an impossible one for us <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeois" title="Bourgeois" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">bourgeois</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism" title="Romanticism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">romantics</a> insofar as he went and did what revolutionaries were meant to do—fought and died for his beliefs."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-78" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[78]</a>

He continued to regard <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Trotsky" title="Leon Trotsky" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Leon Trotsky</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin" title="Vladimir Lenin" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Vladimir Lenin</a> as great men,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-79" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[79]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-80" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[80]</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Revolution" title="October Revolution" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">October Revolution</a> as a necessary event in the modernisation of Russia.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-PBSinterview-28" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[28]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-Reason2001-37" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[37]</a> In 2005, Hitchens praised Lenin's creation of "secular Russia" and his discrediting of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Orthodox_Church" title="Russian Orthodox Church" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Russian Orthodox Church</a>, describing the church's power as "absolute warren of backwardness and evil and superstition".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-PBSinterview-28" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[28]</a>

According to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Sullivan" title="Andrew Sullivan" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Andrew Sullivan</a>, his last words were "Capitalism, downfall."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-auto-81" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[81]</a>

<h3 style=" color: black; font-weight: bold; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 1.17em; line-height: 1.6; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Iraq War and the war on terror<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate; font-family: sans-serif;"></h3>

In the years after the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatwa" title="Fatwa" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">fatwa</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_controversy#Fatw.C4.81_by_Ayatollah_Khomeini" title="The Satanic Verses controversy" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">issued against Salman Rushdie</a> in response to his novel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses" title="The Satanic Verses" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The Satanic Verses</a>, Hitchens became increasingly critical of what he called "excuse making" on the left. At the same time, he was attracted to the foreign policy ideas of some on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Republican</a>-right that promoted pro-liberalism intervention, especially the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservative" title="Neoconservative" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">neoconservative</a> group that included <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Wolfowitz" title="Paul Wolfowitz" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Paul Wolfowitz</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-82" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[82]</a> Around this time, he befriended the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_people" title="Iraqi people" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Iraqi</a> dissident and businessman <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Chalabi" title="Ahmed Chalabi" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Ahmed Chalabi</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-83" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[83]</a> In 2004, Hitchens stated that neoconservative support for US intervention in Iraq convinced him that he was "on the same side as the neo-conservatives" when it came to contemporary foreign policy issues.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-InEnemyTerritory-84" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[84]</a> Hitchens had also been known to refer to his association with "temporary neocon allies".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-EndOfFukuyama-85" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[85]</a>

Following 11 September attacks, Hitchens and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky" title="Noam Chomsky" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Noam Chomsky</a> debated the nature of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamism" title="Islamism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">radical Islam</a> and the proper response to it. In October 2001, Hitchens wrote criticisms of Chomsky in The Nation.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-86" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[86]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-87" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[87]</a> Chomsky responded<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-88" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[88]</a> and Hitchens issued a rebuttal to Chomsky<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-89" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[89]</a> to which Chomsky again responded.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-:78-8" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[8]</a> Approximately a year after 11 September attacks and his exchanges with Chomsky, Hitchens left The Nation, claiming that its editors, readers and contributors considered <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ashcroft" title="John Ashcroft" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">John Ashcroft</a> a bigger threat than Osama bin Laden,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-autogenerated2-90" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[90]</a> and that they were making excuses on behalf of Islamist terrorism; in the following months he wrote articles increasingly at odds with his colleagues.

Christopher Hitchens argued the case for the Iraq War in a 2003 collection of essays entitled <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Long_Short_War:_The_Postponed_Liberation_of_Iraq" title="A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq</a>, and participated in public debates on the topic with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Galloway" title="George Galloway" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">George Galloway</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-autogenerated5-91" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[91]</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Ritter" title="Scott Ritter" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Scott Ritter</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-autogenerated3-92" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[92]</a> and his brother <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hitchens" title="Peter Hitchens" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Peter Hitchens</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#cite_note-FPW2008-93" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[93]</a>....

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Hitchins, Christopher

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