Editing Robert Fisk (section)

===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>