- - This is an independent piece for
independent media about an Independent
(Alexei Sayle is still the funniest
living Brit I know of) journalist . So
if you're looking for a cute little x-
pozay, grab some local currency and flee
to your local magazine stand or just get
lost.
- - Would all of the Western journalists
who were in auf-gan-ee-schtan during the
bombing (it is still not a War) please
raise your hand. C'mon, don't be shy.
Now, all those who don't know where
Afghanistan is, lower your hands. If
you couldn't spell >Afghanistanheardheard(J)urnal-izm<. Well
there's my brief tirade.
- - I think the titles speak for itself
loud and clear (no 'just a War on
Terrorism.' vegas disco dancing finger
snappin big band journalism here).

(starting september 12)
The wickedness and awesome cruelty of a crushed and humiliated people
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=93623
Is the world's favourite hate figure to blame?
Osama bin Laden
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=93624
They can run and they can hide. Suicide bombers are here to stay
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=93798
The lesson of history: Afghanistan always beats its invaders
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=93985
Osama bin Laden: The godfather of terror?
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=94125
Stunned into disbelief as their 'normal' son is blamed
Robert Fisk in Almarj, Lebanon, meets the family of Ziad Jarrah, who died trying to destroy the White House
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=94339
Robert Fisk: Bush is walking into a trap
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=94254
'Suicide hijacker' is an airline pilot alive and well in Jeddah
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=94438
Taliban finds few Muslim friends
Middle East
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=94653
If Bush wants an invasion, it could become more costly than Vietnam
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=94638
Robert Fisk: 'Smoking them out' is not new in the Middle East
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=94825
Robert Fisk: How to devastate the world in one easy lesson
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=95386
Robert Fisk: How can the US bomb this tragic people?
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=95487
Nervous Saudis tell US: War on terrorism will not be launched from our airfields
War on Terrorism: Gulf States
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=95678
It suits Bin Laden if we call him the head of World Terror Inc
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=95878
Robert Fisk: This is not a war on terror. It's a fight against America's enemies
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=95825
Saudis turn their backs on the Taliban, a monster they helped create
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=96089
Divided kingdom that became a cradle for determined killers
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=96305
What Muslim would write: 'The time of fun and waste is gone'?
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=96697
Faxes to Muslims in America warn against 'treason'
War on Terrorism: Propaganda
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=96930
Robert Fisk: Just who are our allies in Afghanistan?
'The Alliance have not murdered 7,000 innocent civilians in the US. They have done their massacres on their home turf'
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=97281
Robert Fisk: The Arabs will ensure they receive a political reward for their support
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=97624
Robert Fisk: This loose conjecture is unlikely to cut much ice with the Arab nations
 http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=97836
Robert Fisk: Our friends are killers, crooks and torturers
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=98181

Robert Fisk: War disturbs the most dangerous political tectonic plate in the world
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=98298
Robert Fisk: Lost in the rhetorical fog of war
'The Taliban have kept reporters out; does that mean we have to balance this distorted picture with our own half-truths?'
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=98407
Robert Fisk: Bush and Blair have already lost the talking war across the Middle East
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=98659
A bold and original TV station that America wants to censor
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=98870
Robert Fisk: Who is copying who in war of words?
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=98871
No guilt, no responsibility at this perverse gathering of Islamic kings and dictators
War against terrorism: Arab Summit
By Robert Fisk, Middle East Correspondent
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=98854
Robert Fisk: Egypt is a nation caught between Islam and the West
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=99062
Robert Fisk: 'Will a few holes in the runway of Kandahar airport make a difference?'
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=99416
Robert Fisk: Slaughter of the innocent bolsters view that this is war against Islam
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=99519
Robert Fisk: Promises, promises
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=99860
Watching the war from Kabul's rooftops
Robert Fisk in Peshawar
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=100113
Wounded four times, tortured and exiled again - but Abdulsalam keeps on smiling
By Robert Fisk in Peshawar
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=100298
A defiant sermon in the town of the infidel killer
Robert Fisk in Ghaziabad, North West Frontier Province
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=100459
Robert Fisk: Obsession with bin Laden crosses all frontiers
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=100759
Robert Fisk: As the refugees crowd the borders, we'll be blaming someone else
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=100895
Robert Fisk: Farewell to democracy in Pakistan
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=101459
'The Taliban are not worried about being bombed'
By Robert Fisk in Peshawar
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=101721
Saifullah, man of peace, killed by American cruise missile
War on Terrorism: Victim
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=102226
Robert Fisk: Hypocrisy, hatred and the war on terror
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=103717
In the end there is still the word
In a dusty Peshawar street, Robert Fisk happened upon a remarkable bookshop fighting a desperate rearguard action to preserve Afghanistan's literary heritage in the face of Taliban hostility
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=103945
Bin Laden: The target
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=104359
Robert Fisk: No surprise at rumours of new atrocities by our 'foot- soldiers'
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=104632
Robert Fisk: What will the Northern Alliance do in our name now? I dread to think...
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=104799
A city of spiritual beauty broods in the rubble
War on terrorism
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=105032
Robert Fisk: Should the West take this new policy seriously?
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=105214
Robert Fisk: Forget the cliches, there is no easy way for the West to sort this out
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=105385
Robert Fisk: Our friends in the North are just as treacherous and murderous
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=105560
Robert Fisk: Blood, tears, terror and tragedy behind the lines
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=106834
Colours of the cornered chameleon are changing rapidly, Taliban style
Robert Fisk in Chaman, on the Afghan border
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=107011
Another war on terror. Another proxy army. Another mysterious massacre. And now, after 19 years, perhaps the truth at last...
The eyes of the world are on Afghanistan, but today a Belgian appeals court is due to consider a case with disturbing contemporary parallels. Robert Fisk reveals shocking new evidence that the full, horrific story of the Sabra and Chatila massacres of 1982 has not yet been told
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=107100

Robert Fisk: We are the war criminals now
'Everything we have believed in since the Second World War goes by the board as we pursue our own exclusive war'
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=107292
'We'll fight to the end, martyrdom is our victory'
By Robert Fisk on the Afghanistan- Pakistan border
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=107551
The river of victims runs through another war
War on terrorism
By Robert Fisk in Chaman
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=108198v
Robert Fisk: This terrible conflict is the last colonial war
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=108161

Rise and fall of village cleric who fought 'criminals and traitors'
War on terrorism
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=108811
Repressive regime destined to end in oblivion
War on terrorism
By Robert Fisk, Middle East Correspondent
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=109017
My beating by refugees is a symbol of the hatred and fury of this filthy war
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=109257

- - Now, what would the number of
articles in the mainstream press be
about Mr. Fisk's little run-in back on
the ninth with the bombed-back-to-way-
before-the-stone-age Afghans ? I can't
even remember, frankly, if there were
any cowboy journalists in mainstream tv
who reported it. I'm sure I must wrong,
so I'll look up that word 'colleague' in
the dic ...
- - Never mind.
- - He's not only "one of Britain's most
distinguished journalists" (colleague).
He has arguably been touted as one of
the foremost experts on the Middle East.
And amidst all the journalistic lies and
nuance of story concerning that
particular region of the world, that's
no small order. Not to mention that the
real story is usually pretty complicated
to begin with!

Robert Fisk: Brace yourself for Part Two of the War for Civilisation
 http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=111323

- - Geez oh man, this piece writes
itself!
- - Insert groovy pics and spin graphics
here. Preferably use deep sounding male
voice-overs on the video montage for
maximized dramatic impact. Four
thousand words, minimum. Couple with a
long detailed historical retrospective
accompanying piece. Inserts galore, and
a map or two. Don't forget a photo of
one of those antihumane howitzer
converted food aid C-130's in action.
Original theme song and computer
animation. Full color spread. All the
fucking way.