THEM FIGHTIN' HITCHENS BROTHERS AGAIN... One's an anti-Iraq War conservative, the other a pro-Iraq War leftist, but both share a genetic trait for making themselves unpopular by taking on revered targets. Seven years ago, Christopher Hitchens published The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice. With the fifth-form cleverness of its title, this book was every bit as successful as you would expect in persuading conservative Roman Catholics to give serious attention to Hitchens' criticisms of Mo-T (eg, that she was cosy with dictators like Duvalier, that she kept stolen money give to her by fraudster Charles Keating, etc). Now his right-wing brother Peter Hitchens has gone gun-slinging against Nelson Mandela:

London - A British journalist sharply criticised former South African president Nelson Mandela on Monday, saying that he was a "fig leaf" for an authoritarian government and people should view him as a fallible human being, not a saint.

Peter Hitchens, a columnist for the Mail On Sunday, told BBC radio that many critics of the country's former apartheid regime had "elevated Nelson Mandela to the status of superhero and a sort of political secular saint". [...]

"I don't think anyone can take away from Nelson Mandela the fact that he endured what he did and that he called for reconciliation, but I think you shouldn't assume that at the end it was like a fairytale where everybody lived happily ever after", Hitchens said.

"I do think people should examine him as a normal human being and as a politician rather than as some kind of secular saint", the journalist said.

Next: Zeppo Hitchens uncovers the unsavoury secrets of the Dalai Lama, while Chico Hitchens exposes the REAL Aung San Suu Kyi. Stay tuned!