Edited sentence: As a former British intellectual, he is excused from the charges of consistency and rationality that so tax the French intelligentsia.As an American intellectual, he has taken it upon himself to construct an apologetic for the belligerencies of the day.At times it can appear than his path depends on whomever is his current drinking and smoking companion: today Paul Wolfowitz and Ahmed Chalabi.He is no poor-boy made good, but a former chardonnay socialist; in his late middle-age seeking admission to the well-padded comfy chairs found only in the more conservative clubs.Hitchens is a paradigmatic British intellectual of the late 20th century (sic), one who can afford to launch cannonades at whomever he pleases, knowing that the damage thus inflicted will never repercuss on his own wealth or status.Notwithstanding protestations to the contrary, he has spent his exuberant life entirely in circles quite inaccessible to those not born to the British privileged classes.Some of the most august institutions in the United Kingodom appear on his CV: the University of Oxford, the Times, the Times Higher Education Supplement, the New Statesman, and the Spectator