Editing Robert Fisk (section)

===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>