Sad News: Christopher Hitchens has cancer

Awful, just awful:

Christopher Hitchens is being treated for cancer, forcing the D.C. writer to cut short his latest book tour. In a statement released through his publisher Twelve, the British-born provocateur, 61, said that he has “been advised by my physician that I must undergo a course of chemotherapy on my esophagus. This advice seems persuasive to me.” The notorious chainsmoker announced in 2008 he had given up tobacco — driven, he said, by “fear.” (His wife Carol Blue told us then he “wants to live — live to see his political enemies defeated.”) But he was still sneaking a smoke or two when our colleague Manuel Roig-Franzia interviewed him last month.

via Reliable Source – Christopher Hitchens diagnosed with cancer, cuts short his book tour.

AllahPundit Writes:

I’ve never met him — this is as close as I’ve come — but between enjoying his work, supporting many of his positions (on foreign policy, at least), and of course feeling a little atheist kinship, it’s like I’ve known him for years. This is hard news to take.

Indeed. Irregardless of his personal religious beliefs; which are his own damned business. He is fighter against Islamic-Fascism and a stalwart defender of western culture.

God be with him. (I’m sure he will not mind)