British journalist Robert Fisk has won the Lannan Foundation’s 2006 Lifetime Achievement Prize for Cultural Freedom. It carries a cash award of $350,000. As Borat might say: “Verr nize!”
A full-page ad announcing the award in today’s New York Times cites an excerpt from Fisk’s massive 2005 book, “The Great War for Civilisation,” which, ironically, the NYT Book Review excluded from its list of 100 Notable Books of the Year.
If you haven’t had a chance to read Fisk, have a look at the column he wrote last June in The (London) Independent about Haditha. It ran under the headline “On the shocking truth about the American occupation of Iraq.” The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reprinted it with this headline: “The way Americans like their war.” Believe me, you will be shocked. Even now, knowing what you think you know, you will be shamed:
Yes, the Nazis were much worse. And the Japanese. And the Croatian Ustashi. But this is us. This is our army. These young soldiers are our representatives in Iraq. And they have innocent blood on their hands.
Just FYI: We’ve posted lots of related items, including MR. JONES, MEET MR. FISK, LESS FLAG-WAGGING, PLEASE, CREDIT WHERE DUE, AND BONES TO PICK and FISK ON THE JOURNALISTAS and WHAT MEANS GENOCIDE? There are others. If you’re interested, they’re easily found by inserting his name under “Search this site” in the right column.
