Talking with Robert Fisk

Here's a link to my column this week for Antiwar.com. It's a more complete report on something I mentioned here a couple of weeks ago, the chance to spend an hour or so with Robert Fisk, the celebrated war correspondent for the Independent in the UK. He recommends, not surprisingly, that the West remove all military forces from the Middle East, even though it might be messy for a while, but of course maintain economic, diplomatic and cultural ties. An interesting fact I didn't mention. He says he doesn't use the Internet, but continues to do shoe-leather journalism -- even though somebody has put up a Web site for him.

I had met him before, when he came by the Register for and editorial board meeting just as the Iraq war was getting underway. Then as this time, he had come to Chapman University in Orange to give a talk. My appreciation to Chapman for sharing him with us, and to him for being so gracious. Incidentally, he has a new book out, "The Age of the Warrior," which I've just begun to dip into. I'll offer a more complete report when I've read more.