Cole on Hitchens

Today, Juan Cole struck back at a hit piece written about him by Christopher Hitchens. Cole clearly takes the approach of fighting fire with fire and getting into the gutter with his critics rather than just refuting them; that is his choice, though his comments about Hitchens possible being drunk when he filed his piece are regrettable and open him to attack. However, his main point remains intact. Hitchens did print something from a private list-serve for the sole purpose of discrediting a political opponent, and is ripping these statements out of the discussion of which they were originally a part and attacking Cole for a role played in a conversation of his own creation. Perhaps tomorrow I'll have time to read the entire Persian text of Ahmadinejad's speech, but a glance at the excerpts here support Cole's rendering, including the key reference that the occupation mentioned is of Jerusalem.