Robert Fisk, veteran UK journalist, dies aged 74

BBC News ^ | November 2nd 2020 | BBC News

[Ennis85]

The Irish Times reported that he was admitted to St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin after falling ill at his home on Friday, and died shortly afterwards.

Fisk won numerous awards for his coverage of the Middle East, where he reported from 1970s.

But he also drew controversy for his sharp criticism of the US and Israel, and of Western foreign policy.

Covering wars in the Balkans, Middle East and North Africa for UK newspapers over five decades, the New York Times described him as "probably the most famous foreign correspondent in Britain" in 2005.

Born in Maidstone, Kent in 1946, he later took Irish citizenship and had a home in Dalkey outside the capital Dublin.

Irish President Michael D Higgins has expressed his "great sadness" about Fisk's death on Sunday.

"With his passing the world of journalism and informed commentary on the Middle East has lost one of its finest commentators," he said in a statement.

https://twitter.com/PresidentIRL/status/1323014318003277826?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1323014318003277826%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fworld-middle-east-54774539

After starting his career at the Sunday Express, Fisk moved to Belfast in 1972 to cover the Troubles as Northern Ireland correspondent for The Times. He became the paper's Middle East correspondent in 1976.

Based in the Lebanese capital Beirut, he reported on the country's civil war as well as the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the Iran-Iraq War.

He resigned from The Times in 1989 after a dispute with the owner Rupert Murdoch and moved to The Independent, where he worked for the remainder of his career.

In the 1990s he interviewed Osama Bin Laden three times for the paper. He described him as a "shy man" and looking "every inch the mountain warrior of mujahedin legend" in their first interview in 1993.

After the September 11 attacks plotted by the Saudi terrorist, Fisk spent the next

[Ennis85]

So for those who may not been aware of him he was a notorious Anti-American, Anti-Israeli, victim blaming journalist who was sympathetic to Islamic extremists who for example went as far as to justify the Charlie Hedbo murders.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/charlie-hebdo-paris-attack-brothers-campaign-terror-can-be-traced-back-algeria-1954-9969184.html

As well as being a war crime denier: https://pulsemedia.org/2016/12/03/robert-fisks-crimes-against-journalism/

You can see why the term "fisking" exists.

[nwrep]

Good riddance. MAGA.

[dodger]

An operative of the Deep State International (DSI), goes on to his reward ... purgatory at best

[Rummyfan]

I won’t speak ill of the dead. But he certainly won’t be missed.

[princeofdarkness]

Was this guy worse than Peter Arnette from CNN?

[dp0622]

I was gonna say I always feel silly when it sounds like somebody important who I should know dies and I don’t have a clue who they are.

Thanks for the clues.

Good riddance.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Arnette was Canadian if I recall correctly and very anti-American esp. re our efforts to stop communist aggression in Indochina. If he isn’t dead yet, pray it is hurried up.

Fisk was a leftist and probably a Marxist (check out “International Socialist Review” and see if he wrote for them (Trotskyite).

The other British anti-American journalist on the Left is John Pilger, who was very brave in his coverage of wars, etc., but he wasn’t pro-America or pro-Israel, or a serious opponent of the Iranian murderers.

I would find Pilger the most interesting foreign leftist journalist I would want to talk to.

In Vietnam, CBS journalists in I Corps were on the Marines “wish hit list” including Dan Rather, Morley Safer and Don Webster. How do I know, they told me so. Glad I didn’t run into these shits there.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Arnette was Canadian if I recall correctly and very anti-American esp. re our efforts to stop communist aggression in Indochina. If he isn’t dead yet, pray it is hurried up.

Fisk was a leftist and probably a Marxist (check out “International Socialist Review” and see if he wrote for them (Trotskyite).

The other British anti-American journalist on the Left is John Pilger, who was very brave in his coverage of wars, etc., but he wasn’t pro-America or pro-Israel, or a serious opponent of the Iranian murderers.

I would find Pilger the most interesting foreign leftist journalist I would want to talk to.

In Vietnam, CBS journalists in I Corps were on the Marines “wish hit list” including Dan Rather, Morley Safer and Don Webster. How do I know, they told me so. Glad I didn’t run into these shits there.

[jmacusa]

It’s guys like Fisk and Piers Morgan who reinforce the reason why I’m no real fan of the Brits.