Sunday, June 05, 2005

Robert Fisk on Lebanon: I never thought I would say this. Robert Fisk is no longer reliable on Lebanon. He, the one that I used to describe as the best foreign correspondent in the Middle East. He has become a loyal and uncritical voice of the right-wing opposition in Lebanon. To be sure, one cannot but agree with his critical commentaries against the Syrian-Lebanese military-intelligence order; but it is different matter when he spares the right-wing opposition (which includes the likes of the Lebanese Forces, Phalanges, among others) any criticisms. In a recent article, he even reproduced rumors printed in An-Nahar and Al-Mustaqbal. Many of the rumors printed in those two newspapers (reliable voices of the right-wing opposition) have not been proven correct since Hariri's assassination. Just today, Al-Mustaqbal had to deny a news item from yesterday's edition in which it falsely claimed that the assassinated Lebanese journalist Samir Qasir was in Damascus (meeting allegedly with Syrian intellectuals) days before his assassination.