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Fisk was known for his courage in questioning official government narratives and publishing what he discovered in frequently brilliant prose.
He joined The independent in 1989 since The times and he quickly became its most recognized and sought-after author. He continued writing for The independent until his death in Dublin.
Christian Broughton, editor of The independent Until last week and now managing director, he said: “Fearless, uncompromising, determined, and utterly committed to uncovering truth and reality at all costs, Robert Fisk was the greatest journalist of his generation. The fire that lit The independent will burn. “
Much of what Fisk wrote was controversial, something he seemed to savor. In 2003, as the United States and the United Kingdom prepared for the invasion of Iraq, Fisk went to the United Nations in New York, where he saw then-Secretary of State Colin Powell present an unimpressive case for the war.
“There was an almost macabre opening of the play when General Powell came to the Security Council, kissing the delegates on the cheek and putting his big arms around them,” he wrote. “Jack Straw was quite encouraged by his big American hug.”
Fisk, who was born in Kent and studied at Lancaster University, began his career on Fleet Street in the Sunday Express. Went to work for The times, where he lived in Northern Ireland, Portugal and the Middle East.
For decades he was based in the Lebanese city of Beirut and occupied an apartment located on its famous cornice. He lived and worked there while the nation was torn apart in a civil war, and several journalists were victims of kidnappers.
Fisk, who received numerous awards, including those from the Amnesty International and the British Press Awards, wrote several books, notably Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War Y The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East. He completed a doctorate at Trinity College and had a home at Dalkey in Co Dublin.
He interviewed Osama bin Laden twice. After the September 11 attacks and the subsequent invasion of Iraq by the United States and the United Kingdom, he traveled to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, where he was attacked by a group of Afghan refugees, furious at the deaths of their compatriots. at the hands of Western forces.
He became famous for turning the incident into a front page report, featuring a picture of his beaten face.
He wrote: “I realized that there were all the Afghan men and boys who had attacked me and who never should have, but whose brutality was the product of others, of us, of us who armed their fight against the Russians and ignored their pain. and they laughed at their civil war and then they armed themselves and got paid again for the ‘War for Civilization’ a few miles away and then they bombed their homes and ripped apart their families and called it ‘collateral damage.
Fisk, who obtained Irish citizenship, was praised by Irish President Michael D. Higgins.
“It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of Robert Fisk,” he wrote in a statement.
“With his passing, the world of journalism and informed commentary on the Middle East has lost one of its best commentators.
“Generations, not just from the Irish but from around the world, trusted him to have a critical and informed view of what was happening in the conflict zones of the world and, more importantly, the influences that were perhaps the source. of the conflict. “
