Robert Fisk

It's a journalist's job to be a witness to history. We're not there to worry about ourselves. We're there to try and get as near as we can, in an imperfect world, to the truth and get the truth out.

The word 'democracy' and the name of Assad do not blend very well in much of Syria.

The Americans may think they have 'liberated' Baghdad but the tens of thousands of thieves - they came in families and cruised the city in trucks and cars searching for booty - seem to have a different idea what liberation means.

One of the reasons why I think people have gone from reading mainstream newspapers to the Internet is because they realize they're being lied to.

There is nothing so satisfying as to be shot at without effect.

The Second World War is and was constantly being drudged up by Blair and Bush to rationalize the invasion of Iraq.

The biggest problem I have in journalism is being quoted or misquoted and then being asked to defend something I haven't said.

The Syrian army is tired of corruption. It is tired of party nepotism. It is becoming very angry with those it blames for the war.

In one way, I fear all Damascus is a dungeon. Or do you have to live here to appreciate that?

Colleagues will malign you if you're a moderately successful journalist.

U.S. journalists I don't think are very courageous. They tend to go along with the government's policy domestically and internationally. To question is seen as being unpatriotic, or potentially subversive.

President Bush will come here and there will be new 'friends' of America to open a new relationship with the world, new economic fortunes for those who 'liberated' them.