Christopher Hitchens and Mark Daily

Hitchens has always been one of the most eloquent writers in support of the war. He supported the Iraq invasion from a leftist humanitarian perspective, and it helps that he's an incredibly erudite and widely read writer. Like most war supporters, he's since had to rethink his opinions - not that "I told you so" is much comfort for the doves in this country.

I found this piece in Vanity Fair by Hitchens about meeting the family of Mark Daily, a soldier who was inspired by his writing to enlist and then later died in Iraq, incredibly poignant.

Daily was 23. He was about a year older than I am now.