November 18, 2004
ALLAWI DEATH RAMPAGE CONTINUES
Robert Fisk, completely out of his mind, hints that Iyad Allawi was responsible for Margaret Hassan's murder:
There was one mysterious video that floated to the surface this year - a group promising to seize al-Zarqawi, claiming he was anti-Iraqi, politely referring to the occupation armies as "the coalition forces".
This was quickly nicknamed the "Alawi tape" - after the American- appointed ex-CIA agent and ex-Baathist who holds the title of "Interim Prime Minister" in Iraq, the same Alawi who fatuously claimed there had been no civilian deaths in Fallujah.
So if anyone doubted the murderous nature of the insurgents, what better way to prove their viciousness than to produce evidence of Margaret Hassan's murder?
What more ruthless way could there be of demonstrating to the world that America and Alawi's tinpot army was fighting "evil" in Fallujah and the other Iraqi cities that are now controlled by Washington's enemies.
No, of course we cannot say that Alawi was involved in Margaret Hassan's death, even though he would have hated her political views.
Just because the "Interim Prime Minister" is widely believed in Baghdad to have executed seven prisoners in the Amariya Police Station just before taking office - he denies this - should not suggest he would ever have a hand in so terrible a deed.
But the question remains: Who killed Margaret Hassan?
I don't know, Robert; was it you? Note also that Fisk has boosted the number of Allawi's Amariya victims from six to seven. Someone alert the Lancet!
It's interesting that Fisk thinks we need proof of the insurgents' "evil" ... after we've already witnessed several hostage decapitations. In other crazy UK news, George Galloway's successful Respect party (4.79% of the Euro parliament vote) is to be challenged by another left-wing force: the Redgrave-driven Peace and Progress party.
Posted by Tim Blair at November 18, 2004 11:22 PMFisk says: ..the "Interim Prime Minister" is widely believed in Baghdad to have executed seven prisoners..
Translation: ..the Sydney Morning Herald believes..
Posted by: The Mongrel at November 18, 2004 at 11:29 PMFisk can now join Naomi Klein in the pool of reporters spouting idiot conspiracy theories (Who seized Simona Torretta? "This Iraqi kidnapping has the mark of an undercover police operation"). Since Simona Torretta was released and told a press conference that she was indeed kidnapped by jihad warriors Naomi has been oddly quiet on the subject.
Posted by: Rob at November 19, 2004 at 12:23 AMFisk is in serious denial.....could it be his head popped after President Bush was re-elected? One can always hope!
Posted by: The Real JeffS at November 19, 2004 at 12:33 AMThat should read, "Seven political prisoners. Juveniles. Right after he promised them ice cream."
Posted by: Joe Geoghegan at November 19, 2004 at 12:36 AM"So if anyone doubted the murderous nature of the insurgents, what better way to prove their viciousness than to produce evidence of Margaret Hassan's murder?"
Um, if you think anyone needs to PROVE their viciousness, then you must indeed doubt the murderous nature of the insurgents, in which case you are a dipshit and of no further interest.
Posted by: Mike G at November 19, 2004 at 12:47 AMoh that's a good one Robert, a new vein entirely. Maybe Tim or someone else who has been around papers longer than I have can explain.
Putting aside the insanity he believes, my question is why to editors allow this...what he doesn't get wrong he misrepresents. Does he sell a lot of papers?
my editors woud never allow this crap.
Posted by: rod at November 19, 2004 at 12:55 AMThe Fisking of Tim Blair:
"Robert Fisk, completely out of his mind,..."
You have to have one to be out of one.
Thankyou
Posted by: David at November 19, 2004 at 12:55 AMFisk has been out in the sun for too long. There is a brilliant sketch of him in William Dalrymple's "From the Holy Mountain" (much recommended) which artfully captures the vanity and lunacy of the "war junkie" with a taste for enormous cigars and vintage Cognac bought for him by a student on a tiny travel grant.
Posted by: rexie at November 19, 2004 at 12:57 AMInspector Fisk forgot to ask the most important question.
Do you have a license for your minkey?
This was quickly nicknamed the "Alawi tape".... That's odd, because to check the widespread use of this nickname I just googled for "Allawi tape" and "Alawi tape" and all it found was a single article dated 26 July 2004, written by... Robert Fisk. I think what he means is This tape, which I have nicknamed the "Alawi tape" despite it neither featuring nor mentioning him...
Posted by: Rob at November 19, 2004 at 01:27 AM"from six to seven... alert the Lancet!"
A spokesperson for the Lancet announced today that an increase from six to seven is well within the Lancet's acceptable range of statistical variation — between "zero" and "everybody" — based on its other Iraqi casualty studies, and no further action needs to be taken...
Posted by: richard mcenroe at November 19, 2004 at 01:36 AMFisk needs another well-deserved beating by a "freedom fighter".
Posted by: Cherie at November 19, 2004 at 01:38 AMummm...wasn't fisk the one who got the crap kicked out of him in some ME country for beinga western reporter? I can't remember
Posted by: Jewels (AKA Julian) at November 19, 2004 at 01:45 AMYes, Jewels - that's what I was referring to. In Afghanistan. He took it like the whimpering self loathing idiot that he is.
Posted by: Cherie at November 19, 2004 at 02:07 AMNote also that Fisk has boosted the number of Allawi's Amariya victims from six to seven.
Hmm, when's the last time we heard from Paul McGeough? Maybe Allawi decided to finish up the job, so to speak.
Posted by: PW at November 19, 2004 at 02:48 AMFisk accused Allawi and not the Zionists? The man's slipping.
Will the lefties ever stop slurring Allawi? The man faces death every day when he crosses the Green Zone to go to work. How much risk does Fisk take when he goes to work?
By the way, Allawi is the elected Interim Prime Minister of Iraq; he doesn't merely "hold the title."
Posted by: Butch at November 19, 2004 at 05:32 AMHow much risk does Fisk take when he goes to work? Not nearly enough.
Posted by: Bruce at November 19, 2004 at 06:21 AMCan't seem to generate even a tiny bit of interest in Galloway or Redgrave's parties. I haven't been enthusiastic about a political candidate since Jethro Q. Bunn Whackett Buzzard Stubble and Boot Walrustitty of the Silly Party.
Posted by: timks at November 19, 2004 at 06:37 AMAllawi is an ex-Baathist? On what facts or half-truths does he base that claim?
Posted by: Sean at November 19, 2004 at 07:03 AM"No, of course we cannot say that Alawi was involved ... Just because the 'Interim Prime Minister' is widely believed in Baghdad to have executed seven prisoners in the Amariya Police Station ... should not suggest he would ever have a hand in so terrible a deed."
McGeough leaves glaringly unanswered the Real Question: what role was played in Hassan's disappearance by the man whose puppet Allawi is? Yes, that's right, President Evil, G. W. Bush.
Though ... just because he in turn is widely believed to be the puppet of a Hitlerite neocon-global-Zionist conspiracy should not suggest he would ever have a hand in Hassan's murder. Or Yasser Arafat's, come to that...
Posted by: elly at November 19, 2004 at 07:24 AMFisk is usually fit only for mockery, bur his latest is too disgusting for that. I hope he gets kidnapped sometime soon by the heroic Iraqi resistance.
Posted by: Ross at November 19, 2004 at 08:09 AMExcuse me? Tinpot army? The most lethal group of young men ever to set boot to soil? If Fisk really thinks that, he should get himself an AK47 and hide somewhere with some "insurgents." Fat Chance.
Posted by: Dwayne from Kansas at November 19, 2004 at 08:52 AM"In the www arena where the world speaks invisibly to itself, a new word has appeared: 'to fisk', meaning the selection of evidence solely in order to bolster preconceptions and prejudices. Just as cardigans or mackintoshes are named after an inventive individual, so fisking derives from the work of Robert Fisk, the Middle East correspondent of the Independent, stationed these many years in Beirut.
fisking: n.
[blogosphere; very common] A point-by-point refutation of a blog entry or (especially) news story. A really stylish fisking is witty, logical, sarcastic and ruthlessly factual; flaming or handwaving is considered poor form. Named after Robert Fisk, a British journalist who was a frequent (and deserving) early target of such treatment"
I was expecting that someone would claim that the murder was a "false-flag" operation.
Posted by: Andjam at November 19, 2004 at 09:05 AMI think I understand why no up-and-coming group of terrorist wannabes has kidnapped and beheaded Mr. Fisk: there'd be no challenge in it. He probably roams the streets of Baghdad (or whatever Middle-Eastern burg is unfortunate to be currently hosting him) begging someone to take him hostage and film his beheading "because I deserve it."
Posted by: Andrea Harris at November 19, 2004 at 09:35 AMIf you want a dose of truly revolting moral equivalence, read the editorial in this week's New Statesentity (22 November 2004) [NB: that's not a permalink -- only good for this week]
... Why would a rebel movement kill a possible sympathiser and alienate many Iraqis as well as Americans and Europeans? The answer is that war allows no such discrimination between victims. No doubt many US bombs were dropped on sworn enemies of Saddam Hussein and on supporters of the invasion. American marines did not inquire at each house in Fallujah as to the charitable activities and political sympathies of the inhabitants before reducing it to rubble...
Uh-huh. Now, of course, if the UN Security Council had only approved the Iraq War, then "shock and awe" could have used those special smart Eurobombs, the ones that -- unlike the dumb American Jesusbombs -- only kill bad people when they explode. If you are a kid playing innocently, or a right-minded hostage being held by some nutcase militias, then the blast impact has no effect on you.
On the other hand, if you been holdin some broad hostage for two weeks, of course yuh gotta kill huh. Yuh got no udder choice. What, youse ain't seen Fargo? It ain't like yuh can jest let huh go unharmed, right.
Posted by: Uncle Milk at November 19, 2004 at 11:14 AMI wonder what al-Zarqawi was going to do with these? Go to second photo.
Posted by: Lofty at November 19, 2004 at 12:18 PMAmazon lets you search inside the book linked to by rexie. On page 219 Fisk is describing Beirut.
In the old days there was almost total silence in this area. No traffic. No people. Just the gentle crack, crack of snipers. Wonderful.
Creepy.
Posted by: Jim C. at November 19, 2004 at 01:16 PMFisk has now evolved into a new, improved version of himself: he is now self-fisking, like one of those self-basting turkeys. No one has to do it for him. He is now officially and utterly balmy.
However, one has to ask, why do his editors still allow his ravings to be published? The Washington Post dumped Ted Rall today. Can one hope that Fisk won't be far behind?
Posted by: blogaddict at November 19, 2004 at 01:51 PMAndrea
No Terrorist would kidnap Fisk, after all he is on their side. They could not dream of a more usefull fool.
Posted by: Dog at November 19, 2004 at 03:34 PMThis latest effort by Fisk is so loathsome and ludicrous that one could wonder wether he himself is not a one man false flag operation.
When the Anti-war crowd uses arguments marshalled by the likes of Moore and Fisk they merely confirm my view that there is no principled or reasonable objection that could be mustered against the intervention in Iraq.
Posted by: Johan Wehtje at November 19, 2004 at 04:49 PMFisk has just earnt another session on the Philip Adams radio rant after this dose of fantasy. Phil will be absolutely frothing at this one. And this guy has the front to blame Bush for telling lies!
Posted by: Anthony at November 19, 2004 at 07:22 PM"could have used those special smart Eurobombs"
It took Europeans to invent industrialised genocide.
And Fascism
And Nazism
And Communism
Could one of the lefties out there please tell me anyone should listen to Europeans?
Posted by: Sheriff at November 20, 2004 at 07:47 PM"Allawi is an ex-Baathist? On what facts or half-truths does he base that claim?"
That's actually correct. He worked for the Baathists back in the late 70s (forget what his title was) before he split with them and headed to England. The Baathists responded by sending assassins to England and slicing him up while he slept. Allawi was fortunate that they assumed he was dead and left.
Of course an ex-Baathist from 1978 and ex-Baathist from 2002 are two different creatures entirely but needless to say Fisk's aim wasn't to fully inform.
Posted by: Mr Vee at November 21, 2004 at 07:25 AMIt may be a disgusting way, but Mr Frisk is merely making a living. I know people doing even worst things to feed their families.
It may be a disgusting way, but Mr Frisk is merely making a living. I know people doing even worst things to feed their families.