U.S. journalists I don't think are very courageous. They tend to go along with the government's policy domestically and internationally. To question is seen as being unpatriotic, or potentially subversive. Robert Fisk More Quotes by Robert Fisk More Quotes From Robert Fisk President Bush cruelly manipulated the grief of the American people - and the sympathy of the rest of the world - to introduce a 'world order' dreamed up by a clutch of fantasists advising the Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld. Robert Fisk grief order people At Baalbek Nuts I bought pistachios from the Lebanese owners, who answered my request for their thoughts on the war with the typically Lebanese response of no problem. It's a lie, as we all knew. Robert Fisk nuts war lying So here's a question from one who believed, only a week ago, that Baghdad might just collapse and that we might wake up one morning to find the Baathist militia and the Iraqi army gone and the Americans walking down Saadun Street with their rifles over their shoulders. If the Iraqis can still hold out against such overwhelming force in Umm Qasr for four days, if they can keep fighting in Basra and Nasiriyah – the latter a city that briefly rose in revolt against Saddam's regime in 1991 – why should Saddam's forces not keep fighting in Baghdad? Robert Fisk army successful morning I don't like the definition 'war correspondent'. It is history, not journalism, that has condemned the Middle East to war. I think 'war correspondent' smells a bit, reeks of false romanticism: it has too much of the whiff of Victorian reporters who would view battles from hilltops in the company of ladies, immune to suffering, only occasionally glancing towards the distant pop-pop of cannon fire. Robert Fisk views war thinking And history`s fingers never relax their grip, never leave us unmolested, can touch us even when we would never imagine their presence. Robert Fisk fingers relax imagine Colleagues will malign you if you're a moderately successful journalist. Robert Fisk colleagues journalist successful I suppose, in the end, we journalists try - or should try - to be the first impartial witnesses of history. If we have any reason for our existence, the least must be our ability to report history as it happens so that no one can say: 'we didn't know - no one told us.' Robert Fisk reason trying firsts The Americans may think they have 'liberated' Baghdad but the tens of thousands of thieves - they came in families and cruised the city in trucks and cars searching for booty - seem to have a different idea what liberation means. Robert Fisk cities mean thinking I don't know what happens if they get bin Laden. I'm much more interested in what happens if they don't get bin Laden. Robert Fisk bin-laden knows happens The Middle East is a land of great injustice. The Israelis can claim - or wish to, at least - that Lord Balfour's Declaration of 1917 promised Britain support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine, which didn't just mean the left-hand bit that became Israel. Robert Fisk great injustice support wish American power in the Middle East is collapsing. It doesn't need much more than a shove, and it will - and that's not going to be a good thing. Robert Fisk need will good power I'm not sure whether I've been happy. After my last book tour, I sat on my balcony with a cup of tea. I thought: 'You can't rewind the movie. I've spent more than half my life in the Middle East. There have been great moments of horror and depression and loneliness.' Robert Fisk loneliness tea depression life One of the reasons why I think people have gone from reading mainstream newspapers to the Internet is because they realize they're being lied to. Robert Fisk think internet reading people When I visited Syrian special forces along the front lines, I was given extraordinary amounts of detail. They gave me the code numbers for the various positions they've got, told me where the rebels were - about 800 meters away in a forest. I met soldiers who had been wounded but were still serving. Robert Fisk forest soldiers me special The biggest problem I have in journalism is being quoted or misquoted and then being asked to defend something I haven't said. Robert Fisk something being journalism problem I've never been embedded with American soldiers or British soldiers or Iraqi soldiers or any other. Robert Fisk soldiers american been never The Second World War is and was constantly being drudged up by Blair and Bush to rationalize the invasion of Iraq. Robert Fisk being up war world