Editing Robert Fisk (section)

==Career==
===Newspaper correspondent ===
Fisk worked on the ''[[Sunday Express]]'' diary column before a disagreement with the editor, [[John Junor]], prompted a move to ''[[The Times]]''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-my-days-in-fleet-streets-lubyanka-877812.html|title=My days in Fleet Street's Lubyanka|date=26 July 2008|work=[[The Independent]]|access-date=26 July 2008|location=London}}</ref> From 1972 to 1975, at the height of [[the Troubles]], Fisk was  ''The Times''{{'}} [[Belfast]] correspondent,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Murphy|first1=Greg|last2=Clarke|first2=Vivienne|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40074401.html |title=Veteran journalist and author Robert Fisk dies aged 74|work=Irish Examiner|access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref> before being posted to Portugal following the [[Carnation Revolution]] in 1974.<ref>{{cite journal&nbsp;|last=Head|first=Linda S.|url=https://www.alshindagah.com/Shindagah75/the_worlds_best_known_war_correspondent.htm |title=The World's Best-Known War Correspondent|work=Al Shindagah|date=April–May 2007|access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref> He then was appointed Middle East correspondent (1976–1987).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/55863/robert-fisk/ |title=Robert Fisk|publisher=Penguin Random House|access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref> In addition to the Troubles and Portugal, he reported the [[History of Iran|Iranian revolution]] in 1979.<ref name="IT20201101" /> When a story of his on [[Iran Air Flight 655]] was [[Spike (journalism)|spiked]] shortly after the paper's takeover by [[Rupert Murdoch]], Fisk moved to ''[[The Independent]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://german-documentaries.de/en_EN/films/this-is-not-a-movie.13301 |title=This Is Not a Movie|website=German Documentaries|access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref> in 1989.<ref name="IT20201101" /> ''[[The New York Times]]'' described Fisk as "probably the most famous foreign correspondent in Britain".<ref name="nyt_eb">{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19/books/review/19bron.html?ei=5070&en=55044ab9f817eb99&ex=1153454400&pagewanted=print |title= A Foreign Correspondent Who Does More Than Report |date=19 November 2005 |access-date=19 July 2006 |work=The New York Times |author=Bronner, Ethan}}</ref> ''[[The Economist]]'' referred to him as "one of the most influential correspondents in the Middle East since the second world war."<ref>{{Cite news|date=5 November 2020|title=Robert Fisk, a voice on the Middle East, died on October 30th|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2020/11/05/robert-fisk-a-voice-on-the-middle-east-died-on-october-30th|access-date=15 November 2020|issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

===War reporting===
[[File:Robert Fisk, Christchurch, 2008.jpg|thumb|Robert Fisk in 2008]]
Fisk lived in [[Beirut]] from 1976,<ref>{{cite book |last=Fisk |first=Robert |title=The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East |publisher=[[Harper Perennial]] |year=2006 |location=London |page=973 |isbn=978-1-84115-008-6}}</ref> remaining throughout the [[Lebanese Civil War]]. He was one of the first Western journalists to report on the [[Sabra and Shatila massacre]] in Lebanon,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://themuslimtimes.info/2020/01/02/robert-fisk-on-journalism-fake-news-and-truth/ |title=Robert Fisk on journalism, fake news and truth|work=The Muslim Times|access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref> as well as the [[1982 Hama massacre|Hama Massacre]] in [[Syria]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2012/2/2/robert-fisk-remembers-hama-massacre |title=Robert Fisk remembers 'Hama massacre'|website=[[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al Jazeera]]|access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref> His book on the Lebanese conflict, ''[[Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War]]'', was published in 1990.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fisk|first=Robert|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/21679122 |title=Pity the nation : the abduction of Lebanon|via=World Cat|oclc=21679122|access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref>

Fisk also reported on the [[Soviet–Afghan War]], the [[Iran–Iraq War]], the [[Arab–Israeli conflict]], the [[Gulf War]], the [[Kosovo War]], the [[Algerian Civil War]], the [[Bosnian War]], the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|2001 international intervention in Afghanistan]], the [[2003 invasion of Iraq|invasion of Iraq]] in 2003, the [[Arab Spring]] in 2011 and the ongoing [[Syrian Civil War]]. During the [[Iran–Iraq War]], he suffered partial but permanent hearing loss as a result of being close to Iraqi heavy artillery in the [[Shatt-al-Arab]] when covering the early stages of the conflict.<ref>Fisk, Robert ''The Great War for Civilisation'', 2005, p. 224.</ref>

After the United States and allies launched their [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|intervention in Afghanistan]], Fisk was for a time transferred to [[Pakistan]] to cover the conflict. While reporting from there, he was attacked and beaten by a group of [[Afghan refugees]] fleeing heavy bombing by the [[United States Air Force]]. In his graphic account of his almost being beaten to death until a local Muslim leader intervened,<ref name="Whitaker 2001">{{cite web | last=Whitaker | first=Raymond | title=Robert Fisk beaten by mob | website=The Independent | date=2001-12-09 | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/robert-fisk-beaten-mob-9240245.html | access-date=2020-12-08}}</ref> Fisk absolved the attackers of responsibility and pointed out that their "brutality was entirely the product of others, of us—of we who had armed their struggle against the Russians and ignored their pain and laughed at [[War in Afghanistan (1978–present)|their civil war]] and then armed and paid them again for the 'War for Civilisation' just a few miles away and then bombed their homes and ripped up their families and called them '[[collateral damage]]'."<ref>{{cite web |last=Fisk |first=Robert |url=http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles1.htm |title=My beating by refugees is a symbol of the hatred and fury of this filthy war|date=10 December 2001 |access-date=19 July 2006 |publisher=robert-fisk.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060618131439/http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles1.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=18 June 2006}}</ref> According to [[Richard Falk]], Fisk said of his attacker: "There is every reason to be angry. I've been an outspoken critic of the US actions myself. If I had been them, I would have attacked me."<ref name="Falk">{{Cite web|last1=Falk|first1=Richard|last2=Falcone|first2=Daniel|date=9 November 2020|title=The Life of Robert Fisk|url=https://richardfalk.org/2020/11/15/remembering-robert-fisk/|access-date=19 November 2020}}</ref>

During the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], Fisk was based in [[Baghdad]] and filed many eyewitness reports. He criticised other journalists based in Iraq for what he calls their "hotel journalism": reporting from one's hotel room without interviews or first-hand experience of events.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles450.htm|title=Hotel journalism gives American troops a free hand as the press shelters indoors|author=Fisk, Robert|date=17 January 2005|access-date=19 July 2006|publisher=robert-fisk.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060327175323/http://robert-fisk.com/articles450.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=27 March 2006}}</ref><ref name="Gdnobit">{{cite news | last=Morris | first=Harvey | title=Robert Fisk obituary | work=The Guardian | date=3 November 2020 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/nov/03/robert-fisk-obituary | access-date=8 December 2020}}</ref> Fisk's criticism of the invasion was rejected by some other journalists.<ref>[[Eoghan Harris|Harris, Eoghan]] (23 November 2003). [http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/airkissing-the-terrorists--call-it-luvvies-actually-496908.html "Air-kissing the terrorists – call it Luvvies Actually"]. ''[[Sunday Independent (Ireland)|Sunday Independent]]'' (Dublin).</ref><ref>[[Simon Hoggart|Hoggart, Simon]] (17 November 2001). [https://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,,596271,00.html "A war cry from the pulpit"]. ''The Guardian''.</ref> Fisk criticised the [[Coalition of the willing (Iraq War)|Coalition]]'s handling of the [[2003–2006 phase of the Iraqi insurgency|sectarian violence in post-invasion Iraq]] and argued that the official narrative of sectarian conflict is not possible: "The real question I ask myself is: who are these people who are trying to provoke the civil war? Now the Americans will say it's [[Al Qaeda]], it's the Sunni insurgents. It is the death squads. Many of the death squads work for the [[Ministry of Interior (Iraq)|Ministry of Interior]]. Who runs the Ministry of Interior in Baghdad? Who pays the Ministry of the Interior? Who pays the militiamen who make up the death squads? We do, the occupation authorities. ... We need to look at this story in a different light."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2006/s1582067.htm|work=Lateline |date=2 March 2006 |title=Robert Fisk shares his Middle East knowledge|publisher=ABC (Australia)}}</ref>

===Osama bin Laden===
Fisk interviewed [[Osama bin Laden]] on three occasions.<ref name="Gdnobit" /> The interviews appeared in articles published by ''The Independent'' on 6 December 1993, 10 July 1996 and 22 March 1997. In Fisk's first interview, "Anti-Soviet warrior puts his army on the road to peace", he wrote of Osama bin Laden, then overseeing the construction of a highway in [[Sudan]]: "With his high cheekbones, narrow eyes and long brown robe, Mr Bin Laden looks every inch the mountain warrior of mujahedin legend. Chadored children danced in front of him, preachers acknowledged his wisdom" while observing that he was accused of "training for further jihad wars".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/anti-soviet-warrior-puts-his-army-on-the-road-to-peace-the-saudi-businessman-who-recruited-mujahedin-1465715.html|title=Anti-Soviet warrior puts his army on the road to peace: The Saudi|date=6 December 1993|work=[[The Independent]]|access-date=2 December 2020}}</ref>

During one of Fisk's interviews with bin Laden, Fisk noted an attempt by bin Laden to convert him. Bin Laden said: "Mr Robert, one of our brothers had a dream&nbsp;... that you were a spiritual person ... this means you are a true Muslim". Fisk replied: "Sheikh Osama, I am not a Muslim. ... I am a journalist [whose] task is to tell the truth." Bin Laden replied: "If you tell the truth, that means you are a good Muslim."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Naparstek|first=Ben|author-link=Ben Naparstek|date=30 August 2008|url=http://www.listener.co.nz/issue/3564/features11749/watching_the_warriors_.html|title=Watching the warriors|journal=[[New Zealand Listener]]|volume=215|issue=3564}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Fisk |first=Robert |title=The Great War For Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East |publisher=[[Vintage (publisher)|Vintage]] |year=2007 |pages=29–30 |isbn=978-1-4000-7517-1 }}</ref> During the 1996 interview, bin Laden said the [[House of Saud|Saudi royal family]] was corrupt. During the final interview in 1997, bin Laden said he sought God's help "to turn America into a shadow of itself".<ref>{{cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-on-bin-laden-at-50-438729.html|title=Bin Laden at 50|work=The Independent|location=London|date=4 March 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426204415/https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-on-bin-laden-at-50-438729.html|archive-date=26 April 2009}}</ref>

Fisk strongly condemned the [[September 11 attacks]], describing them as a "hideous [[crime against humanity]]". He also denounced the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration's]] response to the attacks, arguing that "a score of nations" were being identified and positioned as "haters of democracy" or "kernels of evil", and urged a more honest debate on [[American intervention in the Middle East|U.S. policy in the Middle East]]. He argued that such a debate had hitherto been avoided "because, of course, to look too closely at the Middle East would raise disturbing questions about the region, about our Western policies in those tragic lands, and about America's [[Israel–United States relations|relationship]] with [[Israel]]".<ref>Fisk, Robert (11 September 2002). [https://web.archive.org/web/20110902095213/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/one-year-on-a-view-from-the-middle-east-607205.html "One year on: A view from the Middle East"], ''The Independent'' (London).</ref>

In 2007, Fisk expressed personal doubts about the official historical record of the attacks. In an article for ''The Independent'', he wrote that, while the Bush administration was incapable of successfully carrying out such attacks due to its organisational incompetence, he was "increasingly troubled at the inconsistencies in the official narrative of 9/11" and added that he did not condone the "crazed 'research' of [[David Icke]]", but was "talking about scientific issues".<ref name="truthiness">{{cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|date=25 August 2007 |title=Even I question the 'truth' about 9/11 |work=The Independent |location=London |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/fisk/article2893860.ece |access-date=25 August 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070827183903/http://news.independent.co.uk/fisk/article2893860.ece |archive-date=27 August 2007 }}</ref> Fisk had earlier addressed similar concerns in a speech at [[University of Sydney|Sydney University]] in 2006.<ref>Bolt, Andrew (29 March 2006). "Are they all mad?" ''Herald Sun'' (Melbourne).</ref> During the speech, Fisk said: "Partly I think because of the culture of secrecy of the White House, never have we had a White House so secret as this one. Partly because of this culture, I think suspicions are growing in the United States, not just among Berkeley guys with flowers in their hair. ... But there are a lot of things we don't know, a lot of things we're not going to be told. ... Perhaps [[United Airlines Flight 93|the [fourth] plane]] was hit by a missile, we still don't know".<ref>Fisk, Robert (26 March 2006). [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bigidea/stories/s1597318.htm "Robert Fisk at Sydney Ideas 2006"]. ABC News Australia.</ref>

[[Bill Durodié]] noted that at one point Osama bin Laden had advised the White House to "read Robert Fisk, rather than, as one might have supposed, the Koran."<ref name="Bin Laden recommends Fisk">{{cite book|author-link=Bill Durodie|last=Durodie|first=Bill|title=Home-grown nihilism – the clash within civilisations|date=2008|publisher=The Smith Institute|location=London|page=125|url=http://www.durodie.net/images/uploads/British_Security_Durodie.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100215034054/http://www.durodie.net/images/uploads/British_Security_Durodie.pdf|archive-date=15 February 2010}}</ref>

===Syrian Civil War===
Reporting from [[Douma, Syria|Douma]], in April 2018 on the [[Douma chemical attack]], Fisk quoted a Syrian doctor who attributed the victims' breathing problems not to gas but to dust and lack of oxygen after heavy shelling by government forces. Other people he spoke to doubted a gas attack, and Fisk queried the incident.<ref>{{cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/syria-chemical-attack-gas-douma-robert-fisk-ghouta-damascus-a8307726.html|title=The search for truth in the rubble of Douma – and one doctor's doubts over the chemical attack|work=The Independent|date=1 January 2020|access-date=2 January 2020}}</ref> Fisk's reporting drew criticism for having relied on government supplied contacts, with [[Asser Khattab]] writing in ''[[Raseef22]]'' that the doctor quoted by Fisk "had been introduced to him by officials in the Syrian government and army".<ref name=":3">{{cite news|last1=Khattab|first1=Asser|date=30 October 2021|title=Robert Fisk, the Man Who Died Twice|work=[[Raseef22]]|url=https://raseef22.net/article/1085047-robert-fisk-the-man-who-died-twice|access-date=3 November 2021|ref=raseef22}}</ref> [[Richard Spencer (journalist)|Richard Spencer]] and [[Catherine Philp]] in ''[[The Times]]'' wrote that journalists had been taken to Douma on a government-organised trip while international investigators were forced to remain in Damascus, and that the doctor interviewed by Fisk admitted to not having been to the hospital where the victims were taken.<ref name="Spencer">{{Cite news|last1=Spencer|first1=Richard|last2=Philp|first2=Catherine|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/critics-leap-on-reporter-robert-fisk-s-failure-to-find-signs-of-gas-attack-fx7f3fs2r|title=Critics leap on reporter Robert Fisk's failure to find signs of gas attack|work=[[The Times]]|date=18 April 2018|access-date=23 June 2019|issn=0140-0460|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210824054505/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/critics-leap-on-reporter-robert-fisk-s-failure-to-find-signs-of-gas-attack-fx7f3fs2r|archive-date=24 August 2021|url-status=live}} {{subscription required}}</ref> The [[Snopes]] website said other reporters on the same trip as Fisk had interviewed locals who said they had inhaled toxic gas.<ref>{{cite news|last=Palma|first=Bethania|url=https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/04/20/critics-slam-viral-stories-claiming-douma-chemical-attack-victims-died-dust/|title=Critics Slam Viral Stories Claiming Douma Chemical Attack Victims Died from 'Dust'|work=Snopes|date=20 April 2018|access-date=1 January 2020}}</ref>

Fisk returned to the subject of the Douma attacks in early January 2020, in an article concerning internal disagreements within the [[Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons]] (OPCW) recorded in documents released by [[WikiLeaks]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/syria-war-chemical-weapons-watchdog-opcw-assad-damascus-russia-a9262336.html|title=The Syrian conflict is awash with propaganda – chemical warfare bodies should not be caught up in it|work=The Independent|date=1 January 2020|access-date=1 January 2020}}</ref>

=== Media appearances ===
He was interviewed by [[Kirsty Young]] for ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'' in 2006. His final selections were ''[[Adagio for Strings]]'' by [[Samuel Barber]], ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' by [[Thomas Malory]], and a violin.<ref>{{Cite AV media|title=Desert Island Discs: Robert Fisk |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0093v0v|access-date=15 November 2020|work=BBC Sounds<!-- Originally broadcast on Radio 4 -->}}</ref>

Fisk featured in the 2016 documentary film ''[[notes to eternity]]'' by New Zealand filmmaker Sarah Cordery, along with [[Noam Chomsky]], [[Norman Finkelstein]] and [[Sara Roy]].<ref>''[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]]'', ''Movie Review: Notes to Eternity'', May 10, 2016 [https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/film-reviews/79845149/movie-review-notes-to-eternity] Retrieved 3 January 2021</ref> The film explores their lives and work in relation to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Fisk was profiled in [[Yung Chang]]'s 2019 documentary film ''[[This Is Not a Movie (2019 film)|This Is Not a Movie]]''.<ref>Simon Houpt, "Journalism documentary This Is Not a Movie plays like Robert Fisk's greatest hits and misses: Yung Chang's new National Film Board doc looks at the career of the veteran British foreign correspondent". ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', 18 May 2020.</ref> In reviewing the film, ''[[Slant Magazine]]'' stated: "The two things that give this documentary its power and provocativeness are intellectual rather than dramatic: Fisk’s work, and his ideas."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Jenkins|first=Mark|title=Review: This Is Not a Movie Is a Smart, Clear-Eyed Tribute to Robert Fisk|url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review-this-is-not-a-movie-is-a-smart-clear-eyed-tribute-to-robert-fisk/|access-date=15 November 2020}}</ref> Cath Clarke, writing for ''[[The Guardian]]'', said the film asks its audience about war: "Is there something deep in our souls that permits it because it feels natural? His painful, deeply serious question about the inevitability of war sets the tone of this documentary about his career."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Clarke|first=Cath|date=11 June 2020|title=This Is Not a Movie review – the drama and tragedy of the Middle East|url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jun/11/this-is-not-a-movie-review-middle-east-war-reporter-robert-fisk-biographical-documentary|access-date=15 November 2020|work=The Guardian}}</ref>