Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Robert Fisk: A gripping diary of one week in the life and death of Beirut

Robert Fisk | 23.07.2006 14:03 | Lebanon War 2006 | Anti-militarism | Repression | World

The local Beirut papers are filled with photographs that would never be seen in the pages of a British paper: of decapitated babies and women with no legs or arms or of old men in bits. Israel's air raids are promiscuous and - when you see the results as we now do with our own eyes - obscene.

Robert Fisk: A gripping diary of one week in the life and death of Beirut

Robert Fisk
Published: 23 July 2006
Sunday 16 July

It is the first time I have actually seen a missile in this war. They fly too fast - or you are too busy trying to run away to look for them - but this morning, Abed and I actually see one pierce the smoke above us. "Habibi (my friend)!" he cries, and I start screaming "Turn the car round, turn it round" and we drive away for our lives from the southern suburbs. As we turn the corner there is a shattering explosion and a mountain of grey smoke blossoming from the road we have just left. What happened to the men and women we saw running for their lives from that Israeli rocket? We do not know. In air raids, all you see is the few square yards around you. You get out and you survive and that is enough.

I go home to my apartment on the Corniche and find that the electricity is cut. Soon, no doubt, the water will be cut. But I sit on my balcony and reflect that I am not crammed into a filthy hotel in Kandahar or Basra but living in my own home and waking each morning in my own bed. Power cuts and fear and the lack of petrol now that Israel is bombing gas stations mean that the canyon of traffic which honks and roars outside my home until two in the morning has gone. When I wake in the night, I hear the birds and the wash of the Mediterranean and the gentle brushing of palm leaves.

I went to buy groceries this evening. There is no more milk but plenty of water and bread and cheese and fish. When Abed pulls up to let me out of the car, the man in the 4x4 behind us puts his hand permanently on the horn, and when I get out of Abed's car, he mouths the words "Kess uchtak" at me. "Fuck your sister." It is the first time I have been cursed in this war. The Lebanese do not normally swear at foreigners. They are a polite people. I hold my hand out, palm down and twist it palm upwards in the Lebanese manner, meaning "what's the problem?". But he drives away. Anyway, I don't have a sister.

Monday 17 July
Continued:
 http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/10487652.html



From The Lebanese People To The So Called "Civilized" West: "Thank You" - Updated
 http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/10487652.html



Patrick Cockburn: The city of Baghdad is "breaking up"
 http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/10487301.html



Group: U.S. military urged abuse in Iraq
 http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/10485639.html



Juan Cole: War on Lebanon Planned for at least a Year: The Bush Administration's Grand Strategy
 http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/10484006.html



Today's Newswire
 http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/2006/07/23/



MARC PARENT

CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS
 http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/
 http://www.myleftwing.com/userDiary.do?personId=3693 NEW
 http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/14409
 http://www.dailykos.com/user/ccnwon

Robert Fisk
- Homepage: http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/

Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

Fisk

23.07.2006 15:04

Fisk writes like some old colonial ruler left behind by the imperialists the way he speaks of the 'natives'.

Lawerence


Fisk is one of Blair's useful idiots

23.07.2006 16:37

Beware the journalist who most states those things that you long to see said in the mass media.

Remember that in reality, ALL journalists are scum. A JOURNALIST IS A PERSON WHO WRITES FOR PROFIT AT THE BEHEST OF A MEDIA BARON. Under such cirmumstances, the words of EVERY journalist are tainted by definition. The purpose of their words is NEVER truth, but pleasing and serving their master. Fisk is the perfect journalist, striving to slant his every report to serve his Israel/Blair supporting masters of The Independent. Journalists like Fisk LOATHE the net, because the net provides an outlet for the opinions of those that are NOT paid to lie or spin.

Of course, Fisk is also one of Blair's most important 'useful idiots'. His handlers at MI6 (common name used for clarity) run the mock 'arabist' program, the active pretence that the Foreign Office still has a significant bias toward 'arabist' issues as a consequence of the aftermath of empire. Old braindead individuals like Fisk (60 years old this year) haven't been able to update their thinking for decades, and thus have the fossilised intellectual qualities required by Blair.

Thank god, in this age we no longer have to rely on the worthless dribble pouring from the senile lips of people like Fisk. Instead, journalists can now be totally replaced by comments from people in all kinds of non-jounalistic positions. As journalists are treated more and more commonly with the contempt they deserve, the bile they spew at the alternative commentators becomes ever more corrosive.

On a general note, it sickens me that there are those non-jounalist commentators that actively attempt to call themselves 'journalists' as if this gives them some kind of status, or superior right to be heard by the rest of us. The 'logic' they use was the same moronic logic that led some to say 'it is illegal to call yourself jedi when answering the -what religion- question on the census'. That people do not understand the concept of 'freedom of religion' leaves me open-mouthed in disbelief. 'Freedom of the press' is NOT the freedom to become an official 'journalist' but the freedom of all of us to comment on the things that concern us.

Reading Fisk recently, purely on a search for new facts, I was disgusted when this old moron told his readers that only when ***he*** told them something about Lebanon did it become a fact. What he really means is when it becomes apparent that a truth about Lebanon (like the virtual destruction of Israel's state-of-the-art warship) has become known to too many people by 'alternative' sources, Fisk will announce it so that he may 'appear' as an independent fountain of truth to naive readers, without giving anything away that could be learnt anyway. This trick defines almost the entire methodology of 'journalism' in both The Independent and The Guardian.

PS contemplate the fact that Fisk is still willing to spin on behalf of Blair and Israel even as the most depraved Israeli crimes against humanity destroy Fisk's own home, and the people that live there. Has there ever been a better definition of the word 'evil'.

twilight


TV News Coverage

23.07.2006 18:27

Please click on this link because what is written is relevant and spot on

 http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=9289

Constrast this with the 10 MINUTE TELEVISED COVERAGE OF A PRO-ISRAELI RALLY IN LONDON WITH PRO-ISRAELI COMMENTS FROM THE BBC INTERVIEWER compared with a LESS THAN 10 SECOND verbal mention of an anti-Israel demonstration yesterday on BBC News 24 yesterday.

Also on Fox News Journalist said Lebanese fleeing the scene in their cars were, and I quote "fair game" for the Israeli Armed Forces.

NEVER IN MY 41 YEARS ON THIS EARTH HAVE I WITNESSED SUCH ONE SIDED COMPLETELY BIASED COVERAGE ON ALL WESTERN TV CHANNELS.

All you protesters yesterday, anyone who is a victim of pro-Israeli terrorism, your voice counts for absolutely nothing anymore in the Western TV Media. They are firmly against you.

nodboss


watching fox news may make you ill

24.07.2006 07:17

Propaganda Remix
Propaganda Remix

ask pretty much anyone who has ever been eyewitness to something that made the news if the news report tallied with what they know...errors, distortions, statements in "quotation marks" attributed to people who wil tell you they said no such things.
see also
 http://www.outfoxed.org/

Bobby
- Homepage: http://homepage.mac.com/leperous/PhotoAlbum1.html


Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech