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By Sarah Meyer
On 11 October, the reporter Robert Fisk made one of his rare appearances in London. The bookshop, Bookmarks arranged for Mr Fisk to speak to an audience of about 250 in a church hall close to Tottenham Court Road. The event marked the publication of Mr. Fisk’s new book, The Great War of Civilisation, the Conquest of the Middle East, published by Fourth Estate, London.
Robert Fisk is an outstanding journalist. His clarity, courage and in-depth knowledge have, throughout his lifetime, been the bedrock of his principled reporting.
Like Seymour Hersch, Mr. Fisk appears to be a quiet, unassuming middle aged man.
Perhaps this is an advantage for a man who is so very passionate about truth.
Fisk likes reporting because, he said, it “is an opportunity to be the first writer of history, to write the truth... our job is to monitor the centre of power; ...to monitor authority, always.”
Fisk spoke of his father, who was a bully, a “very right wing man who liked policemen and capital punishment.” But during WWI, his father refused to execute a man (p. 365ff).
“I have spent my whole life on borders drawn after WWI... All the countries created then are artificial. They don’t work. We are very happy to help. We send them weapons... there is a constant stream of pain, injustice and slaughter.”
Of governments, he said that “you only accept intelligence if it fits in with what you believe.” Fisk believes the US is fighting an “ideological war.”
Of reporting, Fisk said “AP is behind two walls and the NY Times behind a stockade.” He added, “I used to think it was a privilege to be there. Now I wonder if the privilege wasn’t a curse.” He later said, “In American journalism if you criticize, you are un-american.”
“I was on Highway 8 investigating a murder. I saw the largest military brigade I had ever seen. It was a 4 1/2 hour convoy. The ground was bouncing up and down. Iraq is not just about oil. There is a visceral need of the superpower to project its power. I was watching the American empire.”
“Most of Iraq is out of control,” Fisk said. “I have never seen a country so out of control... the Americans must leave and the Americans can’t leave. In due course, there must be negotiation.”
Talking about the deaths of Iraqi civilians, Fisk mused, “I don’t think we CARE about the Iraqis.” The doctors in the hospitals are not ALLOWED to say how many have died,” nor to talk about the “violent deaths in one day.”
What was the best word for those who are struggling against the occupation? “I won’t use the word ‘terrorist’... ‘insurgents’ is the best you can get .” Why were there insurgents? Fisk said, “if you shake and shake and shake, they will hit you; I don’t think there was an original wish to harm us.” I suggest that if you want to read about violence, especially ethnic cleansing, you go to the Holy Scriptures.”
And what was the goal post for the insurgents? The “insurgents primary struggle is to be able to say who will be in power after the Americans leave.” He added, “there will never be a civil war. It’s trivial... I have not met an Iraqi who used the term ‘civil war.’ “
With reference to the reports about Iranians entering the Iraqi border, presently being hyped by the British government, Fisk wryly said, “the Iranians coming over the border is a total myth.”
The audience applauded this fine, fiercely dedicated man, this great reporter.
Robert Fisk is also the author of The Point of No Return: The Strike which Broke the British in Ulster; In Time of War: Ireland, Ulster and the Price of Neutrality 1939 - 45; Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War.
Sarah Meyer is a researcher. She lives in Sussex, UK.
You may email her at: sarahmeyer@freedom255.com
Forum posts
14 October 2005, 02:45
I have long admired Mr. Fisk and followed his adventures and misadventures. His truth is unvarnished. I wish him well and best of luck on his new book!
15 October 2005, 04:29
I dont trust him.
When Rafiq al Hariri was murdered in Lebanon, Fisk was in the Hotel around the corner.
In his own words:
I ran out of the hotel and looked up looking for the Israeli jets, they low fly the city all the time.
I ran down the street to where the the smoke was coming from. I saw the carnage. It was a car bomb, I know what car bombs look like (all-knowledgable inflection in voice), a sort of snigger.
The "car bomb" left a 10x 40m crater.
Car bombs do not make craters in the ground. Explosions always take the path of least resistance.
Either the bomb was planted under the ground or it was a very large missile.
15 October 2005, 17:45
Trust should be the least of your concerns regarding the credibility of Fisk’s reporting. I have followed his reporting from the day Iraq was invaded. I have printed up all his article since then. His accuracy in predicting the ensuing conflict and reliability of his reports few can question.
As a reporter, an Arab speaker and a collector of news outside the hotel rooms of Baghdad put him in a unique position to observe and interrupt the daily events on the ground.
As a scholar with a PhD in Political Science with emphasis on the Middle East adds both to the credibility and breadth of understanding within the region.
He has spent virtually his entire life in this area is familiar with and interviewed all leaders and major warring factions. He is popular with few if any but his uncanny accuracy in projecting outcomes of conflicts is second to none.
I suspect his criticism of Israel is probably what bothers you the most, but disregard for the moment the "Israel jet" comment and ask any engineering friend how a car bomb could create this type of crater.
Trust is something that can only be acquired by reviewing a large body of work and then comparing questions raised by a single incident.(and then following the incident up sometimes having to wait months for the facts to arrive, and then finding that if they are unfavorable to a particular desired opinion they are seldom reported or lost on the back pages of a major newspaper) I suggest you do more homework on this reporter if its trust rather than accuracy your interested in.
Cheers, jt
15 October 2005, 18:53
No Robert, I couldn’t give a fuck about the Zionist Entity. Death follows YOU around.
All of the British Media, like Paxman and Frost (who has just signed to Al Jazeera, que’lle surprise) are just another arn of the oxymoronic British Intelligence Services, and only serve the interests of your Nazi Monarch and the Rothschild owned City of London. Fuck you and fuck them!
15 October 2005, 20:16
Car bombs do indeed make craters in the ground. Just watch any tv report of a car bomb and LOOK at the huge hole that is left in the ground.
16 October 2005, 01:37
The biggest crater in Iraq from a massive explosion was only about 1/3 the size of the one Fisk observed. Wait until the details come out, I suspect it was planted underground, but what will be more interesting is which party is held responsible and how the evidence is supported.
cheers, jt
16 October 2005, 21:14
Google Omagh Northern Ireland!
550kilo car bomb - NO crater. Not a scratch!
Car Bombs do NOT leave craters.
18 October 2005, 01:27
Oklahoma
http://www.tedi.net/images/bomb.jpg
No Crater - Massive Truck Bomb!
30 October 2005, 06:57
Whatever your opinion of Robert Fisk is. He speaks the truth about the situation in Iraq. Civil war has broken out and the U.S has no control. With the exception of the Kurds in the north and the people who dwell in the relatively small military installation known as the green zone no one in Iraq is safe. Just wait until Turkey starts chaffeing at the prospect of an independent kurdish state. Then all that will be left to defend will be our tiny little square in Baghdad that we can broadcast lies from. It will be kind of like that guy who kept coming on Iraqi television during the invasion, ya know the propaganda minister.
Iraq is not post WWII Germany, Iraq is not Japan. If left to its own democratic devices it will take Irans lead and Islamasize. A truly democratic government in Iraq will be one that we don’t like and in all likelyhood it won’t like us. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Iraq in its current form can not be a democracy it is too heterogenious to have a strong central non-authoratarian government.
I say we let anyone in the country who doesn’t want to be ruled by Sharia immigrate to the U.S. The billion’s we’d spend resettleing them would go much further then the money that is going towards murder. We should also get off oil. Then we can say to Iraq let Allah help you and maybe he will.
It’s time to start setting a good example for the rest of the world. The possibilities that our wealth and power bring are endless. Why is our government so narrow minded? Lets try something new. Lets try life, I know, lets become pro-life. If the supreme court can do it I think we all can. The last time I checked missiles do abortions too and the fundementalist religious right ’chooses’ to fire them, hey maybe they are coming around after all.
In closing this soap box rant I want to state what I think us common folk can do about it. Instead of precipitating a contious race to the bottom led by our corporate sponsered government we as individuals need to start changing the way we live on a fundemental level. Everything we buy sends a message to the world through the quasi-democratic process of market alocation (your dollar is a vote) the message has been; Yes we approve of pollution, yes we approve of standardless labor conditions, yes we approve of waste and degradation, yes we approve of murder. Lets change the message. By consuming less we can say here third world their is something left over for you, by demanding sustainability we can say we want to survive another fifty or sixty more years and markets will react. Hey capatalism ain’t all bad, it’s organic and in many cases self correcting. Especially in terms of investment strategies. Those who invest in something that is reprensible to society lose. Unfortunately we’re all a bunch of hypocritical sheep. BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. The other problem is that employment is linked to consumption. Everyone is pushing for more jobs which often create more destruction, luckily it works both ways if people don’t consume as much they don’t have to work as much. We could switch to a four day work week. And still maintain the same GDP if the value to children spending time with thier parents is incorporated. I’m not saying we should live monastic lives but a little minimalism and sharing never hurt anyone. Car pooling for one could be made so efficient if strangers would be willing to get in the car with eachother. Have a little faith, if your brave enough to vote for someone who will send your countrymen into gun fire, then you should certainly be brave enough to get in the car with Harry the accountant from down the street. You see where i’m goin’ here. Lets point the finger at ourselves. We put pressure on the most powerful entities in society to get us more oil (greed is a m*****F****) and then we wonder why we violently invade one of the the worlds most oil rich nations under false pretenses. Thank You and good night.
Somebody please help me this blog has very little to do with Robert Frisk but who gives a damn whether it was a car bomb or a road bomb somebody wanted that boy dead. America wants to say Syria because we want to win the war in Iraq. Most lebanese prefer Syrian occupation to Isreali occupation. Maybe it was a home grown terrorist, maybe it was a U.S. agent who wanted to frame someone. Robert Frisk is not a spy if he was Osama would be dead wouldn’t he? Sorry about the long entry. Everytime I try to write something I end up preaching and I ain’t no preacher....Bball652@yahoo.com,