<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4611.1300" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>[Peter Hitchens says that this is a leftist/PC war, and that his brother, far from abandoning his lefty sympathies, is tightly embracing them by calling for the smashing of the Taliban. DP]</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"This is not to cast doubt on my brother’s disgust at the terror, which is obviously genuine, or on America’s basic goodness as a society, which is demonstrable. But there is something curious, as he accuses others of being ‘in denial’, in his unwillingness to recognise either the connection between this modern September massacre and the Palestinian cause, or the fanatical thread that links militant anti-Zionism with the most intolerant branches of Islam. But if the Left would ever acknowledge the organic connection between its apparently noble causes and the ignoble people and methods involved in their attainment, then it would disband itself. "<BR></DIV> <DIV><A href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.php3?table=old&section=current&issue=2001-10-13&id=1181">http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.php3?table=old&section=current&issue=2001-10-13&id=1181</A></DIV></BODY></HTML>