Robert Fisk, a veteran British foreign correspondent who covered the Middle East, died on Sunday aged 74.He died in Dublin’s St Vincent’s University Hospital from a suspected stroke.
The Independent paid tribute to a journalist who was “renowned for his courage in questioning official narratives” and publishing “frequently brilliant prose”.
“Fearless, uncompromising, determined and utterly committed to uncovering the truth and reality at all costs, Robert Fisk was the greatest journalist of his generation,” said Christian Boughton, editor of the Independent until last week and now managing director.
“The fire he lit at The Independent will burn on.
Much of what Fisk wrote was controversial, something he appeared to savour. In 2003, as the US and UK prepared for the invasion of Iraq, Fisk went to the United Nations in New York, where he watched then Secretary of State Colin Powell make an unimpressive case for war.Fisk, who was born in Kent, and studied at Lancaster University, began his career on Fleet Street at the Sunday Express. He went on to work for The Times, where he was based in Northern Ireland, Portugal and the Middle East.
During his decades-long career, he covered key international events including the Lebanese civil war, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Iranian revolution, Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, conflicts in the Balkans and the Arab Spring.
“The world of journalism and informed commentary on the Middle East had lost one of its finest commentators,” Irish President Michael Higgins said in a statement, paying tribute to a man he said he had known since the 1990s.
His books included The Point of No Return: The Strike Which Broke the British in Ulster; Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War; and The Great War for Civilisation – The Conquest of the Middle East.
May he rest in peace…