The world according to Hitch

Exclusive | What’s a pro-war, anti-abortion, religion-hating Darwinist doing in the Bush camp, or any camp? Commentator and contrarian Christopher Hitchens talks to WORLD | Mindy Belz

Nat Belz for WORLD

On a weekly basis Christopher Hitchens sits down to a keyboard in Washington to write 1,000 words or so in support of the president's war on terror. He has debated the topic with film director Oliver Stone, Hardball's Chris Matthews, University of Michigan history professor Juan Cole, Georgetown Middle East expert John Esposito, and others. On a daily basis he takes abuse from liberal blogs, where he stands accused of "robotic flag-waving" (Daily Kos) and is dubbed "a self-appointed knight, coming to save us from all alleged war criminals" (American Prospect). For all that, he's never been allowed to vote in a U.S. presidential election.

"I can be drafted," he deadpans a little defensively. At 57, the Oxford grad with the brooding look of Richard Burton has spent nearly half his life in the United States on a green card (and has three American daughters to show for it). "This being the generous country that it is, I was quite prepared to go on as an Anglo-American. I don't particularly want to vote. But after September 11th, I thought I was cheating on my dues."