An Oxford Ass

On Scarborough Country, Chris Snitchens just asserted that the Vietnamese did not engage in torture during the Vietnam War.

Senator McCain will be relieved to hear that.

Update (5/19): The pertinent excerpt of the transcript, courtesy of Seb at Sadly, No!:

[Hitchens:] I think my quarrel with the media would be different from yours. I think what isn't conveyed enough is the sheer evil and ruthlessness and indeed brilliant organization of the enemy. The media cliche about the war is that it's like Vietnam. The Vietnamese were a very civilized foe and if they had had weapons of mass destruction, for example, wouldn't have used them and didn't target civilians, did use women as fighters and organizers, were not torturers and mass murderers and so forth.

The liberal reluctance I find is the unwillingness to admit how entirely hateful and unnegotiable with our enemy is and how necessary it is to defeat them not just in Iraq, but everywhere else.