20061003 Who was Oriana Fallaci?

Who was Oriana Fallaci?

My latest column is up on the Tentacle: “Oriana Fallaci, a refreshing approach.”

On September 15, Oriana Fallaci, the Italian lioness of letters, died of cancer. Although Ms. Fallaci was one of the world's greatest conservative artists of letters; she is - to this day - relatively unknown in the United States.

Born in Italy on June 29, 1929, Ms. Fallaci served in the resistance during World War II. She began her journalistic career in 1950 as a teenager and went on to be a war correspondent in Vietnam, the Middle East, South America and the Indo-Pakistani Wars.

She continued her career by interviewing many of the world leaders of our time and consistently took no prisoners. Her aggressive journalistic style is the stuff of myth and legend.

Ms. Fallaci would often wax philosophical about existentialism and then abruptly switch to calmly delivered, aggressive questioning that disarmed the greatest men of words. The many world leaders she interviewed included Henry Kissinger, the Shah of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, Lech Walesa, Willy Brandt, Walter Cronkite, Omar Khadafi, Yasser Arafat, Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, and Sean Connery.

In later years she penned a series of books and articles in which she was critical of the Muslim religion and culture.

It was only by a cruel coincidence that she passed away three days after Pope Benedict XVI recited the words of Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos at the University of Regensburg in Germany, which reflect a view that the religion of Islam is spread by the sword.

Read the rest of the column here.

For my previous posts about this legendary journalist, go here and here.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA. E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org www.thetentacle.com Westminster Eagle Opinion and Winchester Report www.thewestminstereagle.com

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