Christopher Hitchens and Newt Gingrich: What kind of war are we fighting?

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Taped July 18, 2002
What kind of war is the war on terrorism? Ordinarily wars are fought against proper nouns-against Germany during the Second World War or against the Soviet Union during the cold war, for example. Now we're being asked to fight a war against a common noun, terrorism. Just how accurate and useful is the phrase "war on terrorism"? Is this a war? And who exactly is the enemy-Al Qaeda? Al Qaeda plus all other terrorists around the world? Al Qaeda plus all other terrorists plus all the countries in which the terrorists operate? In other words, just how good a job are the president and the administration doing, not just in prosecuting the war but in defining the objectives?

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1 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 887

@reanimated6 12 лет назад

Hitchens pulls names, dates and whole quotations out of his pockets like it's an ordinary feat. This man was the most important intellectual to walk the earth in the last 50 years. To deny it is only say that more time is needed for some to realise it.

@ncktyu 11 лет назад

I wish my brain worked like Hitchens. Able to recall what seems to be almost all of the information he reads and obtains through experiences. I already like debating but I want to be able to debate like Hitchens.

@Joe898100 11 лет назад

Christopher Hitchens is a journalist and an author and all round legend,

@richhenry7540 7 лет назад

Agree or disagree with either one, you have to admit it's a great discussion

@dobbyisafreeelfandsoami3600 7 лет назад

Hitchens, you are very sorely missed. I wish that we still had your voice in the public arena, you're a huge loss to all the free-thinkers of this world.

@jasonbaber1526 6 лет назад

Two giant intellectuals. Didn't care much for Newt as a politician, but as a professor and intellectual, he is superb. Wish Mr. Hitchens we're still around to provide his intellectual analysis on the world events.

@cruznewz3323 4 года назад

I learned more listening to these two gentleman regarding Terrorism, Terrorist Groups etc. Then I learned watching 200 hrs of News programs . For that matter 3 administrations have not described our so called war on terror as well as Mr. Gingrich & Mr. Hitchins. MAGNIFICENT...

@HooverInstitution 11 лет назад

Peter M. Robinson is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he writes about business and politics. Robinson spent six years in the White House, serving from 1982 to 1983 as chief speechwriter to Vice President George Bush and from 1983 to 1988 as special assistant and speechwriter to President Ronald Reagan. He wrote the historic Berlin Wall address in which President Reagan called on General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall!"

@puppetsock 11 лет назад

It's really quite amazing that these two people could share an interview and remain so cordial and calm and rational. It would be hard to find two public figures in the political landscape with more different positions: Ginrich the conservative and Hitchens the Trotskyite. Yet the discussion was sensible, calm, in low tones, and fairly informative. Well done Hoover Institute. And well done Hitch and Newt.

@piazziolbers8984 9 лет назад

I think we need the extended version. The discussion is regularly cut off.

@BillMcGirr 11 лет назад

Hitchens is Brilliant here... Gingrich is holding his own...AND... Christopher is ACTUALLY agreeing with him.... What an enjoyable clip.

@PsychoHF 7 лет назад

This was a far better discussion than I thought it would be.

@HamIsDie 11 лет назад

17:40 Newt applauds the Administration for their job of "emotionally charging" the country. The attacks on 9/11 were enough to charge the country alone. To say the Administration did a remarkable job emotionally charging the country is a fawning diversion to the fact that they had done a very poor job informing the public of it's political objectives.

@samruttenburg7235 4 года назад

2019 and the police state has gotten worse and worse, war on terror is without end, and American's attention span is even shorter...god we need a Hitchens now

@SkaIathrax 11 лет назад

I would be in love with me if I had Hitch's voice.

@marystephenson6402 11 лет назад

I agree it's a myth...having read his articles in Vanity Fair for years, it's very clear to me that this man of exceptional intelligence had chosen his positions carefully and honestly. What I do believe is that he served his readers and fans until the very end of his life...encouraging that we learn, question, discuss, and wake up to the world we live in. Conversion would be a betrayal of his life's path and work. I can't accept he would face death without acceptance, honor, and composure. RIP.

@100domathon 7 лет назад

This was a good video. Espicially watching 14 years later.

@chandruae 7 лет назад

Dear Hoover Institution, Thanks for uploading this fantastic discussion! Is there an unabridged edition of this discussion?

@mixmastermeeks 12 лет назад

who, in say the 1990's, would have thought they would see an interview with Christopher Hitchens and Newt Gingrich where they were so in agreement?

@Clifton100 12 лет назад

Very interesting watching this conversation unfold and realizing that we're a decade removed knowing just how endless a war on 'theocratic fascism' really is because crazy religious groups will never go away. It's a lot like my marijuana stash: it somehow keeps replenishing itself.

@alexandrujohann2355 12 лет назад

Surprising how coherent Newt Gingrich is.

@clingwraphero1 11 лет назад

Thanks for the clip. Yes,Hitchens is truely great.Who can ever replace him?

@Chronoecho 12 лет назад

Hitches has a larger vocabulary than my dictionary... He is awesome.

@Kenneth1238 12 лет назад

He sure did carry an air of elegance and refinement with him where ever he went.

@411American 12 лет назад

Ron Paul is the only person I know and seen who already changed the world no matter what the media wants - Thank you Ron Paul for bring light where there is darkness, no punt intended.

@hudsontoo1212 6 лет назад

Hitchens. Proven right time and time again.

@naybobdenod 12 лет назад

My heart goes out to your loved ones Christopher

@liampezzano 9 лет назад

retitle it Christopher Hitchens has a conversation with fellow journalist and Newt Gingrich gets to sit in and learn something about how words are employed.

@heatrayzvideo3007 9 лет назад

It would be a more accurate but less catchy title.

@MorphingReality 6 лет назад

Gingrich is actually quite intelligent for a politician hahaha Peter Robinson wrote the 'Take down that wall' speech for Reagan. Hitch does end up being the most memorable regardless of who's next to him

@johnjsal 12 лет назад

Gingrich: "I don't know that there was a huge intelligence failure." I hope he knows better by now.

@RevanGabriel 10 лет назад

Wow, this was recorded in 2002. Its so interesting to see the type of talks that was going on in the lead up to the Iraq war.

@Imsleazy666 10 лет назад

I have a great deal of respect for both these men

@tbomber 12 лет назад

fascinating re-listening to this 10 years later. they make some excellent points

@TheQuiescentSquall 11 лет назад

Great video and very professional! I enjoy the juxtaposition of different ideas and this did not disappoint.

@deadshot1995 10 лет назад

I may not like Newt, but he's definitely highly intelligent.

@JasonManners 5 лет назад

He is extremely intelligent.

@Treebark1313 10 лет назад

Ten years from now, we look back on the war on terror as something we're still fucking doing.

@rickw1100 12 лет назад

Thankyou. A great response. You have put it as best as it can be put. Thank you.

@marcell11111 11 лет назад

I agree with stoopidfalo here. Gingrich is a very smart man and can be objective as he demonstrates here. His recent actions and his behavior on the public stage clearly demonstrates that he is willing to say whatever the people who pay him want to and cares about his career and power more than this country. It's sad truly that people listen to him more when he demonstrates brazen ignorance and spews hatred. He's a smart man. this is a great discussion, Hitchens is spectacular.

@OnTheGoFilms 12 лет назад

If I saw more of this intelligence and openness out of Newt during the campaign, I might have supported him!

@RapsAlive 12 лет назад

Support Ron Paul. Google "Political positions of Ron Paul" And look at the Wiki links or ThePoliticalGuide Less government spending, less taxation to American Citizens, a budget plan that works. This man has been fighting for your personal freedom and the separation of congress from big business for years. He is a man who stands against the war on drugs, the foreign wars, and corporate bail outs. Vote for liberty this year. Vote for real change. Vote up and spread the message!

@romefox 12 лет назад

Hitchen's was an intellect of immeasurable knowledge, he may be controversial today but in the future, when man shuns all superstition and belief in false deities, Hitchen's will be revered!

@SuperMathewson 9 лет назад

Why couldn't Newt Gingrich be like this during the Presidential debates?

@SuperMathewson 8 лет назад

More like he was exposed as an asshole and wasn't a serious contender for his own party's nomination.

@themsmloveswar3985 5 лет назад

Because this was an intelligent discussion. Unfortunately, discussions like this never occur on Television. There is a way to improve the quality of discussions is to view discussions like this one, and ignore the debacles on TV. So as to show appreciation for quality.

@jangofet555 7 лет назад

yea newt has no equal, every sentence is clarifying and enlightening, he is a light cutting through our darkness, thank you. and that part of fumbling not being negative but being perceived as good, changing perception is the whole key to any kind of war, conflict, or unpleasant feeling. and i like newts way of thinking, of tracing things to their patterns.

@MicDoane 7 лет назад

Newt is a windbag who bends history to whatever argument he is trying to make. As has been established, he is a stupid person's idea of a smart person.

@jangofet555 7 лет назад

MicDoane usually these things boil down to only a few disagreements which you don't seem inclined to be open about, instead you ridicule.

@Chemicalkinetics 12 лет назад

Gingrich has always been considered very bright and very articulate by people who like and dislike him. Gingrich's problem is that people view him as being rude, dismissive and arrogant.

@TheNorthernMike77 11 лет назад

He died holding his beliefs to the end. The man had integrity and always stood up for what he thought was right. If there is a paradise at the end of life I have no doubt that he would be welcome to it.

@ThaiChinaMalay 11 лет назад

How refreshing to listen two an intellectual discussion where truth rather than politics is the motive.

@gcgrabodan 4 года назад

Is there an uncut version? the cuts are really weird

@alban1959 4 года назад

What on earth could have happened to Newt Gingrich to change him from the balanced, rational personal he seems in this interview, to what he is now?

@l337pwnage 11 лет назад

Well, when people started using words like "war on poverty" and "war on drugs" that pretty much messed up keeping definitions simple, easy, or I would even say accuracy.

@mattcat83 11 лет назад

I would've appreciated an unedited version to hear the continuation of each of these guests' thoughts. Anybody have a link?

@asidaniel6789 5 лет назад

After ive heard all the politics intellectual people in the world. I can tell that hitchens is the most intelligent of them.

@icarus212001 12 лет назад

I do not support Gingrich, nor do I agree with him. But watching this has given me a new-found respect in his ability to perform a concise and eloquent discussion of differentiating viewpoints. I only wish that he didn't try so hard to fit into a stereotype during his campaign. If this Gingrich was running for president, I would not have been so quick to dislike him.

@mnichols2011 11 лет назад

22:12 - "I don't know that there was a huge intelligence failure". - whamp whamp whaaammmp....

@thekeeler846 9 лет назад

Unfortunate this was edited

@alongsleep 5 лет назад

The more important question is why was it edited?

@mastertheillusion 11 лет назад

Very valuable video, thank you

@marlineharrold1937 5 лет назад

great. Thank you for this.

@mvies77 11 лет назад

Actually, as to the host who wrote Reagan's speech at the Berlin Wall. He did not pen "tear down this wall". Reagan added it to the speech and was immediately advised by everyone not to say it since it might antagonize the Russian's. Reagan ignored their advice and said it anyway, explaining it was the right thing to do.

@isaiahgarcia 3 года назад

Wow, here I am in 2020 kind of seeing where Newt Gingrich is coming from. 2002 was a very different time

@logicshouldprevail5646 7 лет назад

Stop the editing please

@dneuens 10 лет назад

It's true Hitchens had a conversion before his death. In the waning hours of his life, he called a priest to his bedside and after a short discussion had converted the priest to atheism.

@jq747 11 лет назад

Unfortunately this video was tarnished, for me, by the desire to punch the monitor whenever Newt Gingrich was onscreen.

@thewintersessions 11 лет назад

I would love to get the unedited un over dubbed version

@Libohove90 11 лет назад

Hitchens was one interesting person. Some of things he said I completely agree with, and some of things he said I completely disagree with.

@VisionXray23 12 лет назад

Hitches it right. Lots of people should have been fired for the failure of 9-11.

@ianmcmath92 4 года назад

Please share the uncut version!

@Topmercs 12 лет назад

I find myself using my dictionary a lot when listening to Christopher. He had such a strong command of the English language.

@pesachshteper3458 3 года назад

I am used to the more mature version of this host. Here he is so much more unnecessarily drawing attention, interventionist and dramatizing... Many thanks for his subsequent stellar work, as well as to the Institution.

@johnbright7518 11 лет назад

...And even if he did, Hitchens isn't some sacred infallible cow that makes his actions uncriticizable.

@yharyhar8 11 лет назад

I've never heard him argue weakly or get caught out in any of the vids I've seen him in.

@emmetwhitey 10 лет назад

this is the best 360p video I've ever seen ! !

@digitalboomer 12 лет назад

There are many politicians like Gingrich, who at a moments glance, seem rational, educated, lucid and reasonable. And they can be all that. Then the campaign trail begins or some other issue, and they off the deep end. This is what I call, Goldwateritis. Goldwater was the same way back in the 60's. Totally rational, until he revealed that the solution in Vietnam, just might be nuclear. He was running for President as well. Hitchens as always, gave great counsel, well almost always.

@victoke 11 лет назад

13 years ago...a good one

@XenoverseComics 12 лет назад

I skipped the part where Gingrich was speaking and went straight to Hitchens.

@HowardHughes33 9 лет назад

Some of the comments down below are typical of fanatical fanboys of Hitchens. Hitchens was a good journalist and I would not have voted for Newt Gingrich, but Gingrich was outstanding here. I thought that he actually had the most intelligent things to say in this discussion, he just didn't have the charming British accent. Good discussion by all though.

@HowardHughes33 9 лет назад

Well said, Holly.

@heatrayzvideo3007 9 лет назад

Yeah I think he made some very well articulated and accurate points too. I noticed Hitchens predicted America becoming more like a police state which appears to be true or at least it seems to be a popular opinion.

@Thorum13 9 лет назад

@ Lance Watson: Actually Gingrich is the one with the accent. A typical crass American accent. There is no such thing as a "British" accent.

@HowardHughes33 9 лет назад

Well said.

@jacobwalters9712 9 лет назад

Thorum13 You do realize that are are literally hundreds of British accents in England itself right?

@greendogg83 12 лет назад

Hitchens was an intelligent man indeed, the best of men, i could listen to him talk all day.

@VampirePraemium 12 лет назад

Christopher Hitchens is dead + Newt Gingrich running for president = Instant refutation of Intelligent Design.

@MindFlowersDotNet 11 лет назад

I did not always agree with Hitch, and rarely do I agree with Newt. It is very fun to see the two men together sharing ideas and seeing their civility and respect for each other.

@Bucketheadhead 8 лет назад

Gingrich begins with a glaring error. This issue did not begin with 3000 Americans dying. It didn't begin in 2001. Islamic Jihadists didn't announce themselves to the world in 2001.

@MOOSEDOWNUNDER 7 лет назад

too true. Pre Cole one could argue. Pre support to the Mujahadeen?

@Bucketheadhead 7 лет назад

mounty27 Potentially even further yes. Although pre the 1980s it seemed most Arabs in the Middle East subscribed to pan-Arabism rather than Islamism. Either way, this issue definitely did not begin in 2001.

@MorphingReality 7 лет назад

The Barbary wars happened like a decade after the US was a country. The Ottoman empire did declare WW1 a jihad.

@bdkern 7 лет назад

In any case, the cut to Peter Robinson following Newt's answer is priceless.

@liberphilosophus7481 7 лет назад

I think he was thinking in terms of _world issues_. Before 9/11, the world interest in Islamic terrorism was rather low; rather, they were focused on terrorism from right wing, communist, or anarchistic factions...

@disqotube 12 лет назад

@adamk4747 i like the way you use caps to get your point across. very persuasive.

@FiveSigma72 12 лет назад

Having not really heard of him until his recent death, within 2 months Ive come to love this intellect, and probably been more inspired to learn more than from anyone, and not just for his political side. His evocation of route 66 in Love, Poverty and War, is literaly the best englishman abroad writing I imagine I will ever read. Then the inconsiderate sod goes and dies.

@PoetlaureateNFDL 11 лет назад

This is some good discussion. CH was fantastic.

@BrendanBeckett 12 лет назад

Gingrich sounds much smarter when he's not running for president

@dansofe0r 12 лет назад

OH CHRISTOPHER I HARDLY KNEW YEE

@aqoaq 12 лет назад

Mr. Hitchens = great as usual Mr. Gingrich = repect for you Sir

@mucklesandwich 11 лет назад

does anyone know if the other bits of this discussion are available on the world wide web?

@DoctorTenacity 12 лет назад

@Hooverinstitution thanks for posting this. Was interesting, gave me some insight into what people might see in Gingrich. Too bad he's a chump. But, that said, thanks anyways! I enjoyed it. :D

@cyberbehrens 12 лет назад

good upload Hoover ! good description. nailed it !

@imaferretmaster 11 лет назад

What an incredible little discussion. I mean say what you will on both sides, I'm personally not a fan of either men, but fuck if they aren't both absurdly eloquent and intelligent.

@TKDunn-qq7kd 11 месяцев назад

I think it's around 3:15 in Hitchens answer where Newt starts to s**t his pants and thinks, "What moron got me booked on this show! I am so screwed! This guy probably has 100 IQ points on me..." ;)

@occamsox5331 10 лет назад

How did Newt get his head so much tanner than his hands? Pretty impressive, if you ask me.

@jimmy2k4o 10 лет назад

he wears gloves on the sunbeds, strange man.

@jasonc32amg 12 лет назад

Excellent discourse...I'll miss the Hitch.

@ronrayah 11 лет назад

Two men that agree on the same bad idea.

@supermonkeywtf09 12 лет назад

Brilliant!

@Hedghog6666 12 лет назад

Suddenly now wish, that just in case the Republicans get in this election, (though I'd much prefer Obama), that Newt was the nominee. in the first 5 minutes (lest I hold my breath) he has shown a wider understanding, knowledge base, and vocabulary than the all the other candidates put together

@ThatNateGuy 11 лет назад

I think you need to read more of his work because he was well aware of what a sheltered life he lived and wasn't afraid to admit it.

@lftice12 3 года назад

Where is the full, unedited interview??

@ferocioustick 12 лет назад

I don't like how this video is edited. I prefer to hear the whole conversation.

@qwerty30013 5 лет назад

Oh man this didn’t age too well

@SabraStiehl 11 лет назад

Newt taught history at West Ga in Carrollton. He tried twice to take John Flynt's House seat and lost. After Flynt retired he ran against a woman and won. Then while he was Speaker of the House during the '90s he developed a method of campaigning, which was: 1) Go negative early, 2) Never apologize, and 3) Use minor details to demonize. Anyone who will check on how Republicans currently campaign will see that Newt's method of gaining political office is still in vogue on the right.