hitchens and war

I am a recent convert to Hitchens’ writing, but I continue to be aghast at his take on the war. From a recent Reason compilation of 3-year war-anniversary interviews:

The United States and its allies should continue to stand for federal democracy, while making Iraq a killing-field for jihadists and fascists and a training ground for an army that will need to intervene again in other failed state/rogue state contexts.

I think that Hitchens’ case for the war in general is nuanced and slightly compelling but ultimately flawed. It’s when he uses a phrase like “while making Iraq a killing-field” as a foreign policy goal with a straight face that I know he’s completely lost his perspective on this issue.