god is not Great: Author

Our author, Christopher Hitchens is a famous Atheist, as well as a columnist for Vanity Fair.  He is outspoken about his distaste for religion as is obvious by my previous entry and is known to be friends with the likes of Richard Dawkins and Salman Rushdie. He is a vehement opponent of Israel, and feels they are an occupation ruling over the Palestinian people, although he is also an ardent supporter of combatting muslim extremists.

Despite what would seem to be a very anti-conservative stance he also ardently supported the invasion of Iraq, and supports a continued presence. He has expressed belief that the war on terror will continue well after he is dead. 

That said, he is also an ardent opponent of torture, and in one recorded session for vanity fair willingly was waterboarded as a demonstration. I have located that video and have posted it at the end. Hitchens was fully convinced that this was not merely an interrogation technique, but certainly torture. He only alsted about 18 seconds. So, he's definitely willing to go out on a limb, and is not just an armchair reporter. 

I haven't delved much into his views on(against) religion yet, but I am assuming there will be plenty more to discuss once actually diving into his book. NOw this is all cursory, and more can likely be found at sites like wikipedia. But this is the basic, basic rundown of the man as I've seen.