Anti-Fascist Journalist and fighter against radical Islam Oriana Fallaci died this weekend in Italy after a long battle with cancer. Sophie Hardach writes about her life and work in this obituary in the Washington Post. In the war against the head-choppers she was unapologetic and uncompromising. She was not shy about calling evil by its proper name and she will be missed.
Aggressive and provocative to the end, Fallaci made her name as a tenacious interviewer of some of the most famous leaders of the 20th century.
She quarreled with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, provoked U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger into likening himself to a cowboy, and tore off a chador (enveloping Islamic robe) in a meeting with Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
"A great Italian and brave writer has died who has led a life full of passion, full of love, with great civil courage," Ferruccio De Bortoli, editor-in-chief of Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper, told Reuters.
De Bortoli first published the angry essay that turned into Fallaci's controversial best-seller, "The Rage and the Pride," which described Islam as oppressive and Arab immigrants in Europe as dirty, foul-mouthed and bigoted.
She called on Europeans to defend their culture and values instead of adjusting to immigrants' needs.
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