Insider Knowledge Robert Fisk

8/3/2019 Insider Knowledge Robert Fisk

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/insider-knowledge-robert-fisk 1/362 | | Summer ‘07 |

Known for his extensive

coverage of the Middle

East crisis, the London

Independents’ foreign

correspondent Robert Fisk speaks

exclusively to SIGNAL magazineabout Lebanon, Israel and the

reputation of Irish peace-keeping

troops. By David Coffey.

Could you explain how last year’s open

conflict in the Lebanon originated?

“On th oning of Jly 12 Hzbollah

bs cossd th Lbanon/Isali

bod. Thy captd two Isali soldis

and killd th oths. In th sbsqnt

fighting, an Isali tank was divn ov th

bod and got blown p by a in - it ayhav bn an old in, w don’t know - and

fiv o soldis w killd. Accoding to

th bst socs in Lbanon, th Isalis

statd fiing ota onds into Lbanon

and th Hzbollah thn taliatd, having

oiginally povokd this battl, by fiing issils into Isal. And

that’s how th wa actally bgan.

Now th al iss is: W th Isalis at so point going to

attack th Hzbollah anyway? Did th Hzbollah alis th action

that th Isalis wold hav? In oth wods th ass bobadnt

of infastct and popl acoss Sothn Lbanon. SayydHassan, onc th had of Hzbollah, said; “If w had known

1% what Isal wold do, w wold nv hav coittd this

opation.” I don’t bliv that. Th Hzbollah knw vy wll what

th Isalis wold do. Idiatly aft I had of th capt of th

two soldis and th killing of th th oths, I was on th oad

fo Bit to Sothn Lbanon. Now if I knw what th Isalis

w going to do, don’t tll Hzbollah did not.”

Is there a possibility that the attack on Hezbollah was

premeditated? There are some sources that say Israel had

consulted the US government about such an attack months prior

to the beginning of the violence. Had Israel gone to Washington

for permission to attack Hezbollah?

“I don’t think that Isal askd fo pission. I think th Isalis tll

th Aicans what thy’ going to do and tll th Aicans that

thy xpct thi sppot. Yo don’t ask pission fo anything of

Washington if yo’ Isal. Yo do what yo want to do and yo’ll

| An Interview with Robert Fisk |

“I think

the Israelis

tell the

Americanswhat

they’re

going to

do and

tell the

Americans

that they

expecttheir

support.”

Insider Knowledge:

An Interview

with Robert Fisk

Insider Knowledge:

An Interview

with Robert Fisk

Robert Fisk of the London Independent.


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/insider-knowledge-robert-fisk 2/3| Summer ‘07 | | 63

know yo’ll gt sppot fo th Whit Hos, fo a rpblican

psidnt lik m. Gog W Bsh. What w do know is that th

a aticls in th Isali pss sggsting that th was going

to b a ft battl with th Hzbollah. And of cos all ais,

inclding th Isali Dfnc Focs (IDF), will hav plans fo

scnaios that ay o ay nv happn, bt if th was a plan, as

th conspiacy thois hav it, fo Isal to attack Lbanon, I think

thy didn’t know ch what to do whn thy got attackd by th

Hzbollah bcas thi capaign against th Hzbollah was a totalfail in both ilitay and political ts. Whil that dosn’t an

that Hzbollah won th wa, it ctainly ans th Isalis lost th

wa.”

Do you think the US might have been serving their own interests

by delaying the cease-fire process?

Of cos thy w. What th unitd Stats wants to do is fightn

Ian by allowing Hzbollah to b dstoyd by Isal. Bt th

Aican adinistation is slf-dlsional. It thoght it was going

to find wapons of ass dstction, capt Iaq, tak ov Iaq,

and ak it a docacy, th sa with Afghanistan. It hasn’t

happnd. It’s coplt dlsion. Th opposit has happnd. Itwas xtaodinay aft bing in Sothn Lbanon nd Isali ai

attack and watching all this, fo to ha Bsh say: “Isal won”

- vn th Isalis don’t think thy won! And h said Hzbollah hav

bn dfatd which is claly not t. Th Bsh adinistation

obviosly blivd that, pio to any kind of fth psss on

Ian, th dstction of th Ianian ‘lng’ in Lbanon, if yo want to

dscib th Hzbollah ath accatly, wold tach Ian a lsson,

bt thy didn’t dstoy th ‘lng.’ And Ian’s lsson was - w won.”

The current peace keeping mission in Lebanon is set at a chapter

6 mandate. In past conflicts of similar hostility we have seen a

chapter 7 mandate implemented. Is a chapter 6 mandate robustenough to handle the current situation?

Th pobl with th uNIFIL foc is that it is now a NATO foc and

w’v had NATO focs bfo. And in on fo o anoth, wstn

focs, whth thy b NATO, Canadian, Bitish, Aican, spcial

focs, infanty gops, hlicopt gops, a now in Kazakhstan,

uzbkistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iaq, Tky, egypt, Algia,

Bahain, Yn, Sadi Aabia and Iaq of cos, w a spad

abot thity-two tis o thickly acoss th msli wold than th

oiginal csads w in th twlfth cnty. If uNIFIL has bco

a NATO foc it will b attackd. Al-Qada hav alady thatnd

it, it hasn’t bn thatnd by Hzbollah, bt in th nd I xpct

uNIFIL will ask Hzbollah fo potction. It will b attackd by Snni

msli gops. I hav bn to failis in Lbanon whos sons havgon off and coittd sicid attacks on th Aicans in Iaq.

Th sa failis a not going to sit in thi hos and watch

anoth NATO foc b st p in Lbanon.

What are the objectives of the UN force in Lebanon now, in your

opinion?

It is a po -Aican, po-Isali foc. It is constantly calld a bff

foc. Bff against what? Bff fo who? It is not th to

potct th Lbans, and th Lbans know that. If it was th

to potct both sids, Isal and Lbanon, thn th bff wold

b dployd on both sids of th bod. Bt it’s not on th Isali

sid, it’s in Lbanon. uNIFIL is th to potct th Isalis fo

Hzbollah and Lbanon.

So will we see a disarmament of Hezbollah in the coming months?

No, of cos not. Gnal Pllgini, th uNIFIL coand told

psonally th wks ago, that nd th andat h has no ight

and dos not hav to tak wapons fo

Hzbollah. Hzbollah says it will not giv p

its wapons. Th Lbans govnnt has

no pow to foc it to do so. Th will b

no disaing of Hzbollah, absoltly not.

The Irish Defence forces have committed

50 troops to the current peacekeeping

mission. Could you summarise the

contribution that Irish troops have made

to peacekeeping missions in Lebanon over

the years and in this current conflict?

Ov two dcads, th is no dobt that

any hndds of Lbans a aliv

bcas Iish toops iskd thi livs,

and sotis gav thi livs, as pac-

kps of Sothn Lbanon. Howv,

back thn thy w paticipating in a foc

which claly was agd by both sids and

which was not intndd to b a bff zon

fo Hzbollah o fo Soth Lbanon, o fo

Isal. Now thy hav takn a political sid,

uNIFIL - I don’t an “thy” th “Iish” - I

an uNIFIL is now on on sid, thy’ on

th sid of th potction of Isal fo thscity concil of th uN, i.. th unitd

Stats. It’s calld a bff foc bt it’s

insid Lbanon so it’s potcting Isal.

Any foc that wants to do that bcos

politically liabl. I do not know th dcision-

aking bhind th snding of 150 Iish

toops back to uNIFIL. Th is no dobt

that th is noos good will not jst in

Soth Lbanon bt in oth Aab contis

towads Iland bcas of it’s xtly

coagos packping toops. I’v

divn with th nd fi, I’v bn with

th nd fi, I’v cochd in ditchswith th nd fi and I can tll yo thy

a fist class soldis. Bt th dspatch of

150 toops to a NATO lad foc is a vy

sios att.


“Over two decades, there is no doubt

that many hundreds of Lebanese

are alive because Irish troops risked

their lives, and sometimes gave their

lives, as peace-keepers of SouthernLebanon.”


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Do you think the European Union could be

doing more to provide global security and

diffuse international hostilities?

Wll w saw th eopan union (eu) at

wok in Bosnia and it didn’t wok. Th is

no eu foign policy and th is ctainly

no eu policy on th middl east. It has th

conoic pow to do noos things bt

thy don’t hav th political will and that’s

th pobl. And th unitd Stats dosn’t

want it to hav th political will. Th unitd

Stats wants to kp th eu politically and

ilitay wak. I an thy’ happy to hav

th as allis in a plac lik Basa and

Afghanistan bt that’s not th sa thing

at all.

The successor of Kofi Annan as UN

Secretary General was announced today.

Do you think we will see significant

changes in the UN, as an organisation,

with the introduction of Mr Ban Ki-moon?

No, nothing at all. This is a totally nknown

an taking ov fo a vy wak an. Th

pobl is that, ally, th uN is th only


hop of binging back so jstic to th middl east, flawd and

copt thogh it is. Yo hav to ally with that, th fact th unitd

Stats wishs th uN not to b a pac-kp bt to b ilvant.Th fo uS abassado to th uN, John Bolton, his job was to

ak s it ains ilvant - bt sfl, whn it’s ncssay.

Th nw uN Sctay Gnal is jst anoth cololss bacat

and h’ll do what h’s told by th unitd Stats via th scity

concil - h won’t gt a scond t if h dosn’t.

Above: Beirut in the

aftermath of an Israeli

air campaign last

summer.

“The problem is that, really, the UN is the only hope

of bringing back some justice to the Middle East,

flawed and corrupt though it is.”

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Insider Knowledge Robert Fisk