Christopher Hitchens is still essentially a Trotskyite leftist. Which is to say, a long way from my point of view. But he has an unusual distinction among leftist commentators - my full respect. When Henry Kissinger was named to the 9/11 investigation commission and Hitch slammed the choice as unconscionable, he got an attentive hearing from me... and upon considering his points, I agreed.

I don't always agree, of course, but I'll always give him a close hearing. Hitch earned it the hard way: with raw moral courage and a laser-sharp pen, battling steadily against evil in front of him and rampant moral cowardice among his colleagues behind. To face one's enemies in combat is one thing. To face one's friends takes rare courage indeed.

So it's no surprise that he should come out with a very worthwhile article on Iraq and what we're up to. One that adds something to the debate about our road ahead in Iraq, and also raises an issue that I told a friend yesterday was coming to our debates: the reassessment of colonialism on both the left and right.

"Barham Salih, the brave gentleman who is currently the elected prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan, told me recently that of the two historic examples of American involvement in "nation-building," he prefers the instance of Germany over Japan. "In Japan too much of the old order was left in place. In Germany there was de-Nazification." This would be more like "revolution from above" or what colonial idealists used to call "the civilizing mission": everything from the education system to the roads. Nobody should underestimate for a second what the magnitude of the task is. But we still persist in employing a clever euphemism, which was designed precisely to obscure that task, and its magnitude, from our gaze."

Remember this as the first shot, folks. As this issue begins to bite in earnest, it will help define our age. And it will not break along traditional left/right lines. More on this issue next week.