Robert Fisk on the Iraq War, Christian Fundamentalism, Israel, and the CIA (2002-2)

November 19, 2002 http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.... Watch the full interview: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/10/robert-fisk-on-foreign-policy-iss...

Fisk is one of the few Western journalists to have interviewed Osama bin Laden - three times (all published by The Independent: December 6, 1993, July 10, 1996, and March 22, 1997). 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. He dreamed ... 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 ... A journalist's task is to tell the truth." Bin Laden replied: "If you tell the truth, that means you are a good Muslim."

On the last occasion, in 1997, Osama informed Fisk of his intention to attack America: "Mr Robert, I pray that God permits us to turn America into a shadow of itself."

Fisk condemned the September 11, 2001 attacks, describing them as a "hideous crime against humanity". He also denounced the 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 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 relationship with Israel."

In August 2007, Fisk responded to the 9/11 conspiracy theories writing "while there are unanswered questions about 9/11, I am the Middle East correspondent of The Independent, not the conspiracy correspondent ... I have quite enough real plots on my hands in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Iran, the Gulf, etc, to worry about imaginary ones in Manhattan." He said the best argument against conspiracy theories is that the Bush administration was incapable of successfully carrying out such attacks due to its organisational incompetence. "But", he said "I am increasingly troubled at the inconsistencies in the official narrative of 9/11." He stressed that he does not condone the "crazed 'research' of David Icke [...] I am talking about scientific issues" and said "Let me repeat. I am not a conspiracy theorist." Fisk had earlier addressed similar concerns in a speech at Sydney University in 2006. 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 the plane was hit by a missile, we still don't know."

After the United States launched its attack on Afghanistan, Fisk was for a time transferred to Pakistan to provide coverage of that 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. He was saved from this attack by another Afghan refugee. In his graphic account of his own beating, Fisk pardoned 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 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.'"

During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Fisk was stationed in Baghdad and filed many eyewitness reports. He has criticized other journalists based in Iraq for what he calls their "hotel journalism", literally reporting from one's hotel room without interviews or first hand experience of events. His opposition to the war brought criticism from both Sunday Independent columnist and senator, Eoghan Harris, and The Guardian columnist, Simon Hoggart.

Fisk has criticised the American handling of the 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. Who runs the Ministry of Interior in Baghdad? Who pays the Ministry of the Interior? Who pays the militia men who make up the death squads? We do, the occupation authorities [...] We need to look at this story in a different light."

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[elitept]

Classic Robert Fisk! He's Great!

[Vamavid]

Fuck! This guy's predictions were spot on!

[samer721]

brilliant man

[pt1gard]

@trollfinger ... wtf u talking about referencing AJ, he's a jew lover, joke, gatekeeper puppet

[trollfinger]

@pt1gard

Whjatever man. Alex Jones, really ? Get a grip.

[pt1gard]

@trollfinger ... ive seen tons pf pilgers stuff, doesnt permit fisk to shill 9/11 .... i guess you snap tpo gatekeepers

[trollfinger]

@pt1gard

That is quite possibly the funniest comment I have ever read on Youtube. I take it you have never read a Fisk book ? Educate yourself. Alex Jones is not an authority on ANYTHING ! He claims mainstream media doesn't cover what he does, yet half his sources and quotes are from mainstream outlets.

Watch Pilger or Fisk for an hour and you will see journalism.

[shadowofears]

BTW That was John Hagee on the phone ...Lol

[elitept]

@BroNathanaelKapner, you inbred israel worshipping kosher faggot!

You're confusing Robert Fisk with George Galloway..

[000000AEA000000]

@Freedomremoved "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

[Freedomremoved]

Why? Americans think they did it because we are a free country... lol We think we are FREE to run the rest of the world, FREE to be global Kings, FREE to tell you what to do. They don't like that? We will occupy your country then!