Hitchens Fixes His Lips Around Administration Policy

I would never accuse Chris Hitchens, the Snivelling Snitch, of spouting conspiracy theories. They're more accurately called lies.

In his latest Slate piece, Chris claims that far-right Republican Representative Walter B. Jones is demanding a pull out in Iraq because of the Downing Street Memo. Specifically, Chris claims:

The outrage about the nondisclosures in the Downing Street memos has led Congressman Walter Jones of North Carolina to demand that we tell the al-Qaida forces in Iraq exactly when we intend to give up.

I think not.

Jones claims he first began questioning the war against Iraq in April 2003, while attending a military funeral. The Downing Street memo first appeared in the (London) Sunday Times over two years later, on May 1, 2005.

Jones' official House website doesn't publicize the Downing Street Memo or make any claims about it.

In the May 15, 2005 News & Observer, Jones is described as urging constituents to read the James Bamford book, A Pretext for War, which was published in June 2004. For those who can't guess from the title, the book asserts that "After 9/11, ... the Bush administration used the attacks as a pretext for a long-planned invasion of Iraq; a Defense Department intelligence unit was set up to tout trumped-up evidence against Saddam, which, Bamford says, CIA analysts were pressured into endorsing."

So, if Snitch is to be believed, sometime between May 1 and May 15: Jones read the Downing Street Memorandum (despite the lack of American press coverage), researched the matter, found and read the Bamford book, made copies of the key passages, and started pressing copies of those passages on his constituents -- because he never thought of opposing the war until the nasty Downing Street Memo corrupted his gullible mind.

Oh, and the same article states:

But Jones now says we went to war "with no justification." He has challenged the Bush administration, quizzing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other presidential advisers in public hearings. He has lined the hallway outside his office with "the faces of the fallen."

Again, Snitch would have us believe these hearings all occurred between May 2 and May 14, when the Downing Street Memo caused Jones to lose faith in Snitch's One True Saviour.

In short, there's no evidence that the Downing Street Memo caused or contributed to Jones's opposition to the war or his recent statements regarding withdrawal of the occupying U.S. forces. I realize it's only Slate, but you'd think Snitch would make some effort to get the facts right.

As for Jones, the above-referenced articles and his own website make it clear he's a far-right extremist on most subjects. I'd never vote for him, but even he deserves better than Snitch's smears.