It looks like I'm going to have Christopher Hitchens on my radio show this Thursday. Any suggestions for things I should ask?
I say:
It's too late and I'm too hungry to think coherently about this, but ...
If his premise is that intervention is in the medium-run interest of ordinary Afghanis, since they will be liberated from "clerical fascism," I'd ask him what has been the fate of the popular masses in countries which have been occupied by NATO/UN (and in this case it would be potentially much more egregious what with the US and Pakistan calling the shots).
For a quick refresher I'd recommend Christian Parenti's piece on "Colony Kosovo," posted here some time ago: http://www.sfbg.com/News/34/47/47wvkoso.html
If his premise is that taking out Bin Laden and the Taliban with special ops and "targeted" aerial strikes is a blow for multilateral policing of "war crimes," then ask him why does he have ample reason to believe that the mission will usher in a new era of multilateral U.S./EU/Japan (and the rest) "cooperation" as opposed to strengthening U.S. hegemony ?
John