A commenter on my post “Christopher Hitchens Debate Reviews: The Great” has kindly pointed out that Hitch’s 2002 debate against Tariq Ali is missing from this anthology. I have added it to “The Good” and have this to say of it:
Ali, “US Imperialism or A Just Response To Terror?”, Georgetown University, Washington DC, 17 April 2002 (Audio). With the rubble of the Twin Towers barely cleared away, Hitchens goes head-to-head with a former comrade on the Left who published a book blaming America for visiting the attacks on itself. I would like to have placed this one in the top category alongside the all time greats as Hitchens’ opening speech is a rip-snorting broadside against the hypocrisy and double-standards that was soon to lead to his departure from Liberalism in favour of Neo-Conservatism. But alas, he doesn’t use his time for a rebuttal and the audio cuts out before the first audience question is answered.
Tags: 9/11, christopher hitchens, Crusades Jihads and Modernity, Georgetown University, islam, Islamism, Osama bin Laden, September 11 2001, Tariq Ali, The Clash of Fundamentalisms
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